Baby booties

I find that we, at the Crozier household, seem to have a lot of discussion about Jacobs bottom. Whether the fact that he has managed to form a new delightful pile of love for us to caress from the tiny recesses of his body, or a new and shockingly red rash has developed or that it is simply cute, which by the way it is, My son has a cute booty. Not too much more to say about that, its a fact.
So tomorrow we elect a new president, Barack McCain. Oh man, how disappointing is that. Barack Obama is frighteningly inexperienced and manages to say nothing better than anyone has managed to say nothing- potentially in the history of man, with perhaps the notable exception of Tristi Mcneil, I went to college with her and man she talks a lot of nothing. John McCain on the other hand is likely to die without much notice, and so while he is experienced, a knowledgeable corpse is of little use.
So who am I voting for- Nader. I'm kidding a vote for Nader is like a vote for the mentally handicapped. I mean we like the fact that they have a special Olympics and we don't pay attention and a gold medalist is not a real Olympian, Nader is not a real candidate, but we humor him. I've seriously considered voting for the Libertarian candidate, but I I don't think thats going to happen.
No I am voting for John McCain, I will take the experienced corpse over the living idiot. There are some things that Barack Obama has said that he wants to do that are mind numbing. He wants to create a, I am not joking about this, an arm of the executive branch answerable to only the president that will investigate people who have dissenting opinion, and they will be armed and have power like that of the military. Look into history and find out about the brown-shirts.
There are a few other things but, goodness me. I don't know if her realizes how frightening that could be, not necessarily with him as pres, but somewhere down the line abuses will happen. well thats enough from me, no ones reading this- or if you are it will be after the commandant is elected.
PEACE OUT HOMBRE.

The Facts of Life

Let me tell you something, starting off in the career of a Financial Adviser is not an easy thing. It takes a lot of work, and doesn't really pay a lot. I basically knock on doors over and over and over, then I call people and try to encourage them to invest with my company. It is a slow process that takes a lot of faith and confidence that the system works. So far I have had one big success, and I look forward to the next one. The big thing I think is to keep going and keep doing what it is that I am doing.
That being said I like the ability that I have to help people out, lots of folks say "Looks like you picked the wrong time to start in the business". I think thats very interesting, to me now is the best time to start. People don't need a financial adviser when you can randomly pick a stock and make sick cash, no they need a financial adviser when times are tough and the decisions are difficult. Its like going to the Dr. when you're healthy, yeah its probably a good idea but its hard to find time, but when you get cancer it may be a good idea to talk to the doc. People have lots of questions and I try to answer them as best as I can, hopefully these people will remember my good will and will eventually do some business with me :)
So there you go, a slightly longer post than my last one, its a hard knock life as a FA ( as we are called in the biz) but I will soon be making too much money to count, or at least $20, which is really not too much to count. Well, we won't worry about that for right now. Peace out and have a nice evening, morning afternoon or next year.

PAX

I should be working right now.

Hey, I ought to be working right now. I know this because it is true. So this post will be short. But I have not posted since I had a mere 23 days left of work in the active duty Army. I am not yet in the reserves, because the Army is stupid. So I am working for Edward Jones, Jacob can refer to himself in the third person, and Smokey is still alive, though she has lost some weight. Rebecca was working at a Children's mental place, now she is working at the VA- as of today that is. So there you go, I will not post a picture today, but another western has been released "Appaloosa", and I liked it. Hey, I gotta go.

-PAX

Victory in the last days

I hope that title doesn't sound too Dooms-Day, because really its Happy-Days, no not the show the reality of days that full of happy, or happiness if you prefer. If I was keeping track, which of course I'm not, then I could tell you that I have 23 days left in the Army before my leave starts and that of those 23 days only 8 of those days are working days. However, as I said before I am not keeping track of that kind of stuff so I don't really know how many days I have left. I must say that leaving the Army is an exciting proposition. I no longer have to deal with insane bosses that have control of every aspect of my life. I will agree that there are most likely there are insane bosses outside of the military as well, however I think that there is a qualitative, if not quantitative, difference in the insane bosses here. It must be that the Army attracts people who like to be able to have a great deal of control with a fairly limited amount of oversight and a population that has little say, few rights, and less knowledge about their rights. I don't want to say that I have hated all the time I have spent in the Army. I would say that there have been some good times and some experiences that I would not trade. The Army has allowed me to be financially independent, has paid off my student loans, has gained me a Masters degree for free, has allowed me to purchase a house, two vehicles, have a baby (again for free), and do things that few people get to do. I feel blessed to have had this opportunity. That being said I am not re-enlisting. To be fair I am getting a commission. Let me explain a little the difference between an enlisted soldier and a Commissioned Officer. An enlisted person performs the menial labor to middle management of the Army. At its most basic level the enlisted soldier is the guy marching, shooting, fighting, dieing, and training every day to do what the Army does. The NCO (what I am currently) supervises and makes sure that the day to day tasks are completed and that the soldiers are able physically an mentally to do what they need to do. The NCO should be a self sacrificing individual who puts the needs of his soldiers above his own, who ensures that his soldiers are held to strict rules, but is fair in applying corrective actions. The Officer is the management and planning. They develop the goals the NCO's implement, they decide what the goals for the unit are and develop the standards of the unit. Officer's are the white collar workers, Enlisted are the blue collar workers.
As I said I am taking a commission, but its in the reserves. I like to think of the reserves as doing the Army as a hobby. Right now I do the Army as a job, but in the reserves I get to act like a soldier one weekend a month, couple weeks a year, you know like a hobby. But like with all hobbies, there is the possibility that I will have to it professionally for a time, 15 months or so. I talk a lot about the Army on this page a lot I guess. Mostly I think its because there is so much interesting culture that is specific to the Army, and the Military in general. As it so happens I now am leaving, and am very happy to being doing so. My last few weeks I get more time off to take care of the things I need to do and to set myself up for the next step in my life. I have been fortunate in the Army, more fortunate than most, and get to leave intact in body, mind, and soul. Thanks Uncle Sam, and thanks for stopping by.

C'est le vie

That's life. I was thinking earlier about life, and what people do in life. When I started to define what it is in life that matters, and when I look back on my life the things that make me happy are the memories I have of events, of conversations, of places I have been and amazing things I have seen. I guess what that means to me is that I don't often look back on my life and smile with fond recollection that specific sitcom I saw three years ago and think how great it was to sit on my couch and watch it while slowly sipping my flavored soft drink.
The more I think about what counts in life the more I realize the value of activity. There is a certain immediate gratification in watching TV and being lazy. It allows you the comfort of inactivity. You say to yourself "I'm relaxing, and I need to relax because what I do is hard work and I need to not work hard all the time." That's okay I guess, I've seen some stirring movies and would consider some to be art and was glad for the time I spent watching them, but I have also seen Rush Hour 1 and 2.
I think about the time that I have wasted and feel a little bad, there have been so many opportunities in my life for a quality experience that I chose not to partake in or did not go out of my way to find. Then I think of people who do less than I do and it makes me feel bad for them, even worse I guess. I'm not trying to say I do everything great and that other people are huge retards wandering around being stupid (though there may be a certain element of truth to this). However people seem to consistently choose not to be involved in things of meaning and not to find experiences that will fulfill them in some deeper way. I don't expect that everyone ought to go rush off and see the Eiffel Tower, tour Europe, or see the Bridges of Madison County (the real things not the movie, though I understand the movie is good too (good job Clint)), but I am sure that there is some wilderness out nearby every ones house, or at least within a relatively short commute. Go to it and look around. Yes there will be bugs there, yes sometime you will sweat But if you live the entirety of your life with the sole purpose of avoiding sweat and bugs then you have had a sad existence. There is too much life to live and sweat, blood, tears, laughter, joy, sorrow, and pain all make up life. I don't think you need to go around being a masochist or anything but at least once I think we all ought to go on an adventure. Whether the adventure is alone, with friends, or with family I don't care but a life without some excitement, without some challenge or danger is not a life. In art, and in life, contrast is important. If there is not enough contrast you can't make out what it is your looking at. If you don't have the contrast of sorrow with joy you will never know how good joy feels. that's just my two cents, thanks for stopping by.

ARMY ARMY ARMY ARMY ARMY!

I have talked about cadence in the past. The mysterious semi-singing form of communication that keeps soldiers a-truckin. I was once told a story that at a Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) school a guy was told to do cadence to march the platoon someplace. He responded "I don't know any cadence." They told him "make one up." So he said "A is for Army, R is for Army, M is for Army, Y is for Army." Followed by "ARMYARMYARMYARMYARMY!" At the top of his lungs as fast as possible. This story has nothing to do with why I am writing today.
It was 0300 and I was sleeping on my couch. You see on Thursday I had discovered my toe had become infected, it was black and horrible. I went in to the ER and the Dr. sliced it open and gave me some drugs and told me not to go to work the next day. I was also supposed to keep my foot up. That was why I was on my couch. So there I am sleeping peacefully on my couch when my phone begins to humm its gentle melody. So I answer the phone, as has become my habit. "SGT Crozier, you need to go to the AOD desk and report to the SDNCO ASAP, one of your buildings is unsecured. I tried to call your counterparts but they were unavailable so you will need to go in until they relieve you."
"What?"
"You need to get in ACU's and go to the AOD, now!"
"I'm on Percaset."
"Are you trying to pull a fast one on me? Because you're slip said you were off of duty for 24 hours and its been over 27 hours, so you should have no excuse not to be able to go into work."
So here I am. An AOD is like the Hospital's night watch. They mostly sit and answer phones. The SDNCO is the Staff Duty NCO. They wander around post and make sure all the buildings are locked. As it turns out, one building was not locked. So, because this building was unlocked I was asked to go and sit in it until someone came to lock. I didn't have a key, but I am a soldier with a damaged foot. Right now it is 0530, on a Saturday and it is raining outside in drought ridden North Carolina. It is times like these that I am glad that I only have 2 more weeks of work as an active duty United States soldier. Don't get me wrong, the Army has been good to me and I have been pretty good to the Army. However these are the times when I think how stupid some of the things we do are, and how petty people can be about things we have no control over.
The moral of the story: If you are in the Army and they have not issued you a phone, don't answer it when it rings.

Investing like a fool

I don't want people to think that I'm some retard here who's just prattling around about money and whatnot. I have an MBA and I had a focus on finance. This means I'm a retard with a degree. That aside I think the idea of people investing in stocks unassisted is silly. Here is my problem; investing is a competitive venture, it is also (to a certain extent) a gamble. Of course the more diversified your portfolio the less risk you have by nature of the beast, but it is still a gamble. When I say it is a gamble I don't mean like roulette or blackjack, or even a slot machine, those are games that the house has a percentage on every time. No I'm talking poker, and professional poker at that.
The reason I say this is because there are people who invest for a living. That is there one and only job, they wake up and keep close tabs on the market and they make money. As a private investor you think "I can invest just as well as some wall-street jerk!" and you choose to enter the game. The problem, much like with a poker hustler, is that you can win. I say this is a problem because by getting a few good picks you think your smart stuff, in much the same way that any one can be dealt a winning hand and beat the pro you have beaten those wall-street jerks.
The problem becomes that in the long run you don't have the time to invest in keeping up with day traders because you have a job, or don't have the resources to get the information they have. So here you are trying to compete with the best and the brightest in their field because you have Internet access and a program that "tells you when to buy and sell". It's ridiculous.
What I say is get a professional, sure do your research make sure that your investment adviser isn't an idiot (much like you would want to make sure you have a competent doctor, attorney, or drug dealer). If you have a competent person working for you they will be able to do professionally what you do as a hobby, and in the end I think you will be happier with the end result. The reality is if you purchase stock on your own or with an adviser you will have to pay commission fee's, there is no way around it. So why not pay commission fee's to someone who is invested in helping yo to invest?

On finance

Now that I've gotten that other terrible post out of the way I would like to wax economic for a moment. People are very concerned about the economy and about the value of the dollar and about all kinds of money things right now. Well I can tell you that its not all bad. In reality things are okay, no they are not as good as they were a little while ago, and yes some people are having trouble. However most people feel that they are doing okay financially, but think everyone else is having trouble. What that means is that most people are not being hurt by the current market conditions. That aside, this is an excellent opportunity for people who felt that the market was getting too expensive to invest. There is really a lot about the economics that I would like to talk about, but it would probably be too tedious to read. So I will talk for a moment about good ideas.
1: It is a good idea to save money. I know this seems silly to say, but when Americans spent more than they made last year it makes me wonder about whether people realize this. I like those feed the pig ads, because the pig smacks the guys hand when he tries to buy a TV (haha). but its true save some money. If you save $200 a month then that would save $2400 a year. At that rate you would (accounting for a certain level of investment) be a millionaire in about 40 or so years.
2: DON'T PUT IT ALL IN SAVING! I know it can be tempting to have a gigantic savings account with all this money straining the seams of your bank account, but don't. This is a mistake more people make than I had realized. Now I am not saying that people need to go nuts and buy every new stock that comes out, but if a person were to own 20 stocks (or one mutual fund account) they would have enough diversification to save them selves from the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune and be a reasonably wealthy person who could one day retire.
3: ride a bike. I'm starting to run out of advice here, but this seemed like a good idea. If you ride a bike more often you will be a strong person, and have more money not being spent on your 2003 four-door F-150 that drains $300 from your bank account every month...grrr.

Well there you go, I hope you have enjoyed this little tid-bit. This post isn't much better than the last one really...ugh.

April Fool's!

This man is a Fool

In this post I will not fool you, or at the very least try not to fool you. Let me say that I will not knowingly fool anyone within the confines of this length of text. I think that it is nice to know that there will be one place you can look to today and realize that what you see is what you get, and that no trickery will be about. I would like to talk for a minute about what April Fool's day is. Or rather that I don't know what it is. Where did this festivity arise from? Why is is here? Why does that man look so stupid. For the sake of integrity, and so that I do not make it seem as though I am trying to fool anyone, I do not know who that man is, and I don't recall where I found the picture. What I can tell you is that it struck me so profoundly in its vivid colors and idiocy that I would have felt remiss if I did not capture it immediately. I am very bad at April Fools day pranks, I will say something like "your shoe is untied april fools." all one sentence without any pauses, and it is not funny. This is perhaps the least interesting post I feel I have written on this page. I think I will stop now before it gets any worse.

My hippie nature exposed

<-----Delicious

I watched a movie not too long ago called "Into the Wild" its about a guy who said he was going to Harvard for medical school or something but instead bought a book on wild edibles, gave his life savings to charity, burnt the rest of his money, wandered around for a couple years and eventually died of potato in Alaska. That being said I bought a book on wild edibles last week because the idea that I can eat my lawn is too great to pass up on. For whatever reason the idea of going out someplace and simply attempting to live off of what is available immediately in the area is incredibly fascinating to me, perhaps when I get to have my midlife crisis I'll be like surviorman and go and "survive" someplace for a week or so. I like to think of it as extreme camping. But regardless of all that I like still the idea that I can go out and find things that could be edible and potentially delicious while camping, hiking, or just around the house (literally(I share my sisters affinity for parenthetical annotation)). Wildlife and nature I think are wonderful things, these are the things that make me feel like hunting is fun, and eating wild lettuce from my ward is neat. While hunting may seem somehow contradictory to enjoying nature I would argue that there is a certain amount of ethical responsibility that goes into the act of hunting, after all we are the ones who killed off the predators and if we expect there to be balance in nature it must be provided somewhere and that is our job to provide it, but that may be a discussion for another posting. I think this ties in to a lot of the personal beliefs I have politically as well. While I'm not convinced that global warming is a man-made event I don't have any problem with conservation of our wilderness and nature. an argument that says "Global warming doesn't exist, it doesn't exist so much that I will pollute MORE!" seems a little bizarre to me. I think that wisdom lies somewhere in between. While I do not believe that humans should attempt to subsist soly on wild edibles, it seems like a good idea to take a little from the earth around you. And the crazy part of me thinks its a good idea to be able to identify edible plants for when doomsday comes and I will be forced to grow my own crops. I think we all have a little crazy in us, what matters is learning to live with it and accepting that our craziness shapes our viewpoints and understanding how it does so.

How the west was won

I have recently decided that there are few genres of movies that can be as impressive as the western when done well. I watched the movie 3:10 to Yuma tonight while doing my military duty at the front desk of a hospital telling people where a nearby gym is and realized there are many subtle layers to the movie. I think this is a fantastic story. Perhaps there is too much going on in there for me to go into, but ultimately the story is not really about the two main characters, it is about Dan's (Christian Bale's) son. In the end of the movie we see that good ultimately triumphs over evil, regardless of any other events simply by the actions of young Will. In the end good defeating evil, in one sense or another, is one of the defining elements of a western. Perhaps the other key element is redemption, and in some senses these two concepts are indistinguishably intertwined. The west, as portrayed in movies, was a place where the law had little sway and men where forced into extremes. Evil would be an easy choice and yet to see men make the right choice for the sake of it being the right thing to do and ultimately be vindicated for these choices. Unforgiven would be another great example. Clint Eastwood does a great job in this movie of showing how a man who had been wicked is struggling for redemption. It takes a while but he evolves into perhaps what he always should have been (had whiskey and wickedness not gotten the best of him earlier in life). Roger Ebert says that in the end good silences evil. I think that is a fantastic way of looking at this. While his character had done terrible things in the end he brought justice into a place where justice did not exist and evil was ultimately silenced by the deeds of a man who could not forgive himself, that- I believe- is why he is Unforgiven. There are a number of other great movies out there to use as an example, but I think these two do justice to my thoughts. Westerns, when not cast into the pot of stupid pointless action, are forced into an introspective light. The characters must have depth, because special effects have little room to hold sway. Dialogue becomes key and we see human nature at its most basic, simple people struggling to survive in an untamed land. Conversely, when a western is done poorly it hurts your brain to have to watch it (Badgirls would be an example, as well as the quick and the dead remake... ugh). But you must steel your resolve against these and be willing to witness scenes that are slow, yet relentless in their purpose. Well, that's enough philosophical waxing on movies for now!

Jacob laughs at strange things

Jacob began making word happen this past week. He chose to say "Dadadadada" we took that to mean Daddy. Though he now has expanded to saying ada and dada and aaaaahdadadadaaaaah. He made a "Ga" sound the other day too. I have to say that Jacob is a cool kid. He laughs at lots of silly things. we wiggle a blanket and he laughs and laughs. As a side note to all of this Jacob is pretty gross. As is demonstrated by this picture to my right, your left (I'm in the computer) he is licking my foot. GROSS. I didn't raise this kid to go around licking people's feet, I hope this is not a trend towards later in life. The good news is he is a sweet little guy, which means we like him. I like my baby probably more than I like my dogs. Yes, that is a fact I think that Jacob is far superior to either of my dogs, especially Smokey. Rebecca and I have decided that we are keeping Smokey around just in case we run across a hard winter sometime in the future. We

anticipate that she will be delicious. I really dont have much else to say, Jacob is silly, Smokey is tasty ( I think) and I need to go to Wal-Mart (stupid Wal-Mart). Carrie probably wants me to go to some strange organic land of crunchy delight, whatever I live in Raeford NC, the geometric center of waste. Baah.

No One Cares

The Academy awards are an institution that no one cares about anymore. At one point it was something that was fun to watch, see which movie you loved so much during the past year had become the one that would win. People were excited to find out how well they fared in the Academy process. However, as the years have gone by people have become more and more aware that the Academy is stupid. No one cares what movies are being selected because no one has seen them. They come out in the last ten minutes of the year when people already have better things on their mind than watching a movie. The Oscars have become a festival of self-gratification. It's like turning on the TV to see a really great meeting at the Elk Lodge, why would I do that. Actually that may be more fun than the Oscars. To watch the Oscars is essentially to watch a bunch over horribly overpaid Hollywood "elites" getting to play dress-up and applaud each other for how great they look and for how well they are doing. The Oscars are a Richard Simmons work-out video where everyone is rich and beautiful, save for Peter Jackson and Michael Moore.
The thing is that the entire event is based on the fact that people in Hollywood really enjoy the fact that they make movies. Whats more is they really like watching their friends in movies too, then they get to party party party all night and slap each other on the back for being so good at being in a movie. "Did you see the movie I was in?", "Oh yes, it was good here you go have a statue!"In light of this realization no one watches the Oscars anymore. We wait until the next day to find out who won. Can you imagine people forgoing the Superbowl for the same reason. It's because the Superbowl is fun to watch and people are invested in it. No one even talks about the Oscars anymore. People used to love the movies. We talked about these great movies that were coming out and how they said or did something interesting. Hollywood thinks they have people figured out, so they make a movie, we don't care about it, and then they say "Hollywood is dying, maybe this new movie like the last one will save us!"
Hollywood is stupid. However, if I was offered the same money they are to do what they are doing I would take it and laugh at anyone who mocked me because I would be rich, and they (like me) would be poor. That's all I have to say about that.

From the ashes emerges a butterfly

I'm pretty sure I messed up on the title, either its a cacoon and a phoenix or something. Any way here I am again typing on a thing that I haven't used in a while. There have been a number of changes to the Crozier family in that time. 1. Rebecca is not in the Army any more and 15. we now have a baby, his name is Jacques, or something. I will not list the other 13 changes, even though they are significant I dont feel like it. In other news I stopped writing that story I was doing. Mostly due to a lack of time. I still have a little note book of thoughts in which I pen concepts that may wander into the written page, but as yet this has not occurred. My sister made me look at her Blog again this past night after not having looked at such a thing in months and I decided I should send out my own blog in response. Not in response exactly, since I am not addressing anything that happens in her blog, but more just because. So its not a response at all. Hmm. I find the philosophy of we(blog)s to be fascinating. For whatever reason I find it fascinating that people think that what we have to say is so important that other people would want to read it. I have nothing important to say, and I take a long time to say it. So I will never be a very popular blogger, because people dont want to take fifteen minutes to read about my shoesize or whatever else it is that I happen to write about. On the brightside this gives me the opportunity to write something someplace, something I should probably do more often. It also provides me the opportunity to look at what I wrote in the past and roll my eyes at the nonsense that I thought passed for original thought. Well, at any rate here I am writing myself into the annuls of internet obscurity for the world to look at. When I run for public office this is going to be a real thorn in my side. However by that point if you dont have a we(blog) people wont even know what you stand for, not that people care now. Forward march.