One thing about listening to talk radio is that I get involved in what they are talking about and don’t want to turn the key off and/or leave my vehicle. I got so sick and tired of all the music radio stations long ago, but just dealt with it. I don’t have a CD player in my car and I certainly can’t afford satellite radio (which is so cool, my BFF has it) so I’m stuck with the radio. In the area that I live in there aren’t all that many stations that I can even get, many are country music stations and I can only take country music in short blasts and have to be in the mood for it, which doesn’t happen all that often, I can tell you that.

Today on my way home from work they were talking about a couple of subjects that I wanted to hear more about but really didn’t want to stay in my car any longer than possible after a long day at work and I can’t get this particular station on the various radios that I have in my home. I just told myself that later on when I went online to check Facebook and possibly write a post here on my blog, that I could check on the stories online. It’s late and I’m tired, not in the mood to do much research online right now. I am hoping that in the morning or on the way back home again tomorrow they will be talking once again about the issue of using three bibles for when they sear in the President which is coming up here real soon. And why they are not allowing a Preacher/Pastor/Minister to be included in the ceremony this time around. What the heck is going on in Washington D.C. anyway?

My nephew has become an “Army Man” fanatic. He has been playing some of the first person shooter video games and we have expanded on that by letting him have some of the little green plastic army men, plastic tanks and plastic jeeps. I gave him a black duffel bag to keep all his army gear in, and he carries it with him everywhere. I bought him a couple of plastic guns. One shoots soft plastic darts and the other is a little machine gun that makes noise when he pulls the trigger. I’ve been using the guns as a way to teach him about guns and gun safety. He is not allowed to point the gun at a person or at the dogs. I’m serious about gun safety and he is old enough to learn this important life lesson.

I had to show my nephew how to hold the toy guns properly and how to sight his targets as part of the gun safety lessons. We also talked about taking care of the guns and how to carry them. I showed him how to use a gun holster for a hand gun and a sling for a rifle. He has been catching on really fast and I haven’t had to remind him much about the safety issues. To be honest, I’m surprised I haven’t caught him pointing the gun at one of the dogs yet – and I think he knows I’m serious about that rule. He asked if he could wear one of my DeSantis Holsters while he was staying at my house Sunday, so I let him wear it around the house for a while. It made him feel like a big shot and I think it is good to introduce a kid to the good stuff so they will appreciate the quality and value of something well made, and learn how to take good care of their things.

Today smoking is a big issue, they have even come out with electronic cigarettes for people to use. It sounds quite interesting and if I were still a smoker I think that I would consider trying them. They are better for your health, they don’t smell up the place or your hair, your clothes and all that. Plus no cigarette butts or dirty ash trays to deal with.

I remember when I worked in the H.R. department for a school for kids with mental health issues. Most of the people in that department were smokers, I was a smoker at that time as well. Every few hours we would all get up and go outside for our smoke break where we would stand and smoke and chat it up for usually 15 minutes or more. Once in a while a non smoker would come out and shoot the breeze with us during that time. No one gave it a second thought, that was just the way it was. I remember a manager coming outside one day to find the entire department outside and she was a bit upset at the non smoking employees for being away from their desks and a big discussion was had about the non smokers wanting and needing the opportunity for a break as well. It only made sense to me that if smokers were allowed these breaks that the non smokers should be able to get up and go outside as well, no big deal.

I found an interesting online video concerning smoke break alternatives that brought back these smoke break memories. I’m glad that I quite smoking years ago and don’t have to worry about any of these issues anymore. I feel better, smell better and have more money to spend on other things that need my attention these days.

It was really freaky today at work when the subject between a few of us that sit close to each other most of the day about background checks and how important they are as well as how often they are being used these days. Computers have really made a huge difference in the tracking of people and of their personal and business and used by so many government divisions and so many darned departments, and their agencies that they have their fingers in. The concept of “Big Brother” is getting (in my opinion) way crazy and what is really crazy is that you don’t even have to work for the government to find out so much about people and their business.

Susan, who sits right next to me, punched in the URL of http://www.easybackgroundchecks.com/ into her computer where they ask just a few of the basic questions – the first and last name of the person you are snooping on as well as a city and state. Not a whole lot to go by but by golly we were surprised to see what information did come up. Of course if you want even more details and information there is a cost involved, but to be honest we were surprised to see that the price wasn’t all that much and they do have different packages/levels to choose from that varies with the cost. It is a pretty interesting site with some pretty decent information regarding background checks, a good site to take a gander at some time.

As you know I enjoy surfing the World Wide Web. It fascinates me so to be able to peek into other worlds, people’s lives and their towns and some times their country as well, business and personnel alike. Google has a few great translation sites that come in handy, when needed. I prefer looking into things that are basically in our language, you know places from the U.K and Australia they are the easiest and I usually enjoy reading about what is going on there.

The one site that I was looking into was one of their waste management services that is committed to resource recovery and recycling in Australia. I’m a total recycling advocate and am always looking into companies that recycle. When I Googled “facilities management sydney” I came up with veoliaes.com and had an interesting read on what they are doing for our Mother Earth and being as green as they can.

I was glad to see that they just recently started their “Clean Up and Out for the New Year” urging to get people to call and talk to them about the range of skip bins that they have available for their customers, to make recycling even easier than it is all ready. If you are provided a bin to put your cans and glass jars in and a bin to put your paper products in then what else needs to be done in order to get your recyclables to where they need to be to be recycled.

I know that I want my kids and grandchildren to live in a clean world. One with trees, water and fresh air. By golly I’m going to do what I can to make sure that they have these things, it’s all good!