Who is YOUR news source?

We all get our news from somewhere, whether that be an official media news outlet, maybe it is Twitter, Instagram or even Facebook. But something that all of those platforms have in common is … it is owned by someone who wants to make money. So you know a lot of sites have been implementing a “1/4 articles” for free, then you have to pay. Some sites make you do a stupid survey or questionnaire.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news for Australia, but Facebook is now restricting all of your access to media and news outlets. What? That’s crazy! Yep, it is true and if they want to get their information, they are going to eventually end up paying for it. Publishing companies worldwide are suffering financially and they struggle to find new sources of revenue. Is this something that might happen all over? It is hard to say, but like I have been saying/preaching for years, you cannot rely on someone’s website that you have no control over, as your primary social media outlet. Facebook accounts and business pages have already been deleted. Chef Pete Evans was just the first of many. Now he has been removed from Instagram also. So no pretty pictures of his amazing dishes. So that was 1.5 million from Facebook and 279k from Instagram. I “think” he has a website, but I do not know if he actually uses it writing articles or blogging. So I just checked and he does have a website, which he is selling all his many endorsed products. The only platform left is something called “Telegram” which I am guessing is some new site. He also is on Parler, but as you may know, that has been having its own struggles. I’m not on either of those. If Pete had a Twitter account, that too is now gone.

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Facebook in general is targeted to certain users. Most of them are probably 30 years old or older. Baby boomers finally “get” Facebook, and are terrified to try new apps/social media platforms. If you say “Snap me” they literally snap their fingers and then say “Okay, now what?” Yes seriously. I just laugh when that happens. There will always be people who stay away from technology. Are those people actually secretly blessed to not be inundated from all that “noise”? Twitter in my opinion is just a big waste of time. WAY too many people sitting on their app, wasting time. I can think of a few off hand that need to just put that phone away. I can’t even begin to list all of the tweets that have gotten someone fired, cancelled or removed. But wait! Aaron, you have Twitter too. Yes, but when was the last time I actually tweeted? Exactly. There are just too many tweets to compete with when trying to get your message out.

And in other news, Texas is still frozen as millions are without power. Their senator, Ted Cruz is laying on a beach in Cancun. Rush Limbaugh is finally dead at 70. Ding dong the witch is dead. Or so the munchkins would be singing. I bought a little propane heater online that you use those little 1 pound tanks. I figured it would be good to keep in my car in case I ever got stranded. Crazy thing is it is cheaper at Walmart online, with store pick up, than it is at Amazon, with earliest delivery next week. Stay warm friends. Stay home. If you are a Texan, so sorry you are suffering. Let’s all say it together “SNOW ANGELS GO AWAY”.

Democrats control NOTHING

I will say it. This is my platform. There is a reason you can comment but not see the comments. Yep, because I control this domain. <evil laughter> No seriously, I don’t allow any negativity as it disrupts the harmonic vibration levels. Obviously many people voted for their republican local leaders, and chose to vote for a different mindset for the President. If the people REALLY wanted the democrats have control, they would have won more seats in the senate. There ARE 2 independent senators who are usually counted as democrats.

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If you didn’t turn on any news media channel this week (other than me), then your soul wouldn’t have been sucked into the evil proceedings of a joke the impeachment of the president. If he wasn’t impeached and removed the FIRST time, what magic pill/drink did they take thinking it would work the second time? I know, I’m just shaking my head in disbelief. I’m not a lawyer, so I don’t know how the government officials can accomplish their task of preventing holding future office, but Biden just wrote a slew of executive orders, why can’t he write one that says if you are impeached, (regardless of outcome) you are done holding a government paid position? Yeah, that isn’t going to happen either.

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I say hit him where it hurts the most, and the economy, the virus, and business leaders are doing just that. Trump properties worldwide are suffering financially. Contracts are cancelled, hotel co-owners are selling off their rooms at a huge loss. I actually stayed at Trump Las Vegas years ago before he was president. A couple of things I’ll throw out that I liked and didn’t like. First off, there is no casino in the hotel. So … if you like to gamble, you have to either walk or take an Uber, or shuttle to one of the hotels. Boo. If you are a high roller, I think they have a private car/driver for you. Everything is gold plated, or looks like gold. So if you like gold in your decor, then this is for you. If you like colors, and soft warm earthy decorating, then you will find the Mirage more to your tastes. Depending on what level/floor you stay, you may hate it. My friend got an upgrade to a one room suite. I know, right? Sweet. However, it was on the lower level and no view, and you heard the trains every … hour? Super annoying I was told. I don’t remember the year, but a one room condo was going for $165k, which was a super great deal as they sold originally new at $500-$600k. I know, crazy right? Why didn’t I buy? Uh, you need 20% in cash down and I don’t have that kind of money. Do YOU have $32k you can drop in the hat? Plus, I don’t live there and I couldn’t afford to vacation there that often. So, not a good choice for me. I just checked and you can get a studio for $190k. And if I am not mistaken, like the other hotel ownerships, you have to pay some sort of a monthly “fee”/HOA bullshit. Another thing is there is no coffee machine in any of the hotel rooms. Why? Because they want you to call room service. Caching. Nothing is free. I did like that since the hotel wasn’t very busy the pool was basically empty. Of course it was July, so lounging at the amazing pool looking up at the gold windows was nice. The hotel is right across the street from the mall, so if you are on a budget, or you don’t want to order from the hotel food services, you can go across the street to the food court.

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So now that congress is done name calling and crying for more attention, can we get our stimulus money like promised? I like to keep to my own motto’s… with one of them being “If it does not DIRECTLY involve me, then there is no need for me to get involved.” How useful this is for workplace gossip, shitty friends, and … well, you get the idea. Life is so much easier when you aren’t involved in everyone’s problems. So, it is nice that some people benefit from the stimulus, but life isn’t fair. No matter how hard the government tries to make things more fair, it just never will be.

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You aren’t a therapist, the good Samaritan, the billionaire philanthropist, so why do we as individual citizens think that reposting some dumb meme on Facebook is going to change things? Yeah, I don’t do it. Fix yourself. Guide your children. Motivate your students. If you want to change things in government, then take a chance and write a letter to your representative. Call them. They have phones. Actions speak louder than words. Your voting dollar speaks immeasurable results when you have a supporting cast.

And if you are an international reader, then you probably don’t know that the United States is under attack, … this time from Jack Frost and Elsa. Yep, it is fÜcking freezing …actually below freezing everywhere. Snow, ice storms, and nasty car accidents and semi trucks crashing everywhere. Be cool. Stay warm. Stay home if you can. If you start rewatching the Avengers marathon you will see a ton of easter eggs. It is president’s day, so no mail, or banking services in the USA today.

Shout Out!

There are a few YouTube channels/personalities that I watch and learn from on a rather regular basis. And as you all know I am not paid by any sponsors, so I am not influenced by someone giving me something to say something nice. My YouTube runs through my Amazon Firestick, which I have split to 4 large screen tv’s in the mancave. Super cool when it is movie night. So my version does not show like or comments, or even how many subscribers that person has.

Okay I won’t beat around the bush. One of my favorite channels is “illuminaughtii“, aka Blair. I hear “Blair” and I think Gossip Girl. Totally not her, but she is hilarious. She investigates multi-level marketing companies and digs up all kinds of truths that would make you cringe. I learn new stuff all the time. Btw, she HATES MLM’s so if you are in one, buy from one, signed up for the discount, then you might not want to watch. She does drop the F bomb a lot, and her latest video on Qanon explains quite a bit. I highly recommend you head over and look her up and watch a few of her informative documentaries.

ColdFusion is another channel really worth watching. It is more of a company “why did they fail or succeed” channel. The fall of Nokia. The Google+ billion $ mistake. How Crackberry was destroyed by …. yep, you guessed it. The iPhone. Fascinating, yet worthless, Jeopardy trivia for you to entertain yourself.

Have you heard of “Ben Shapiro“? I guess he has millions of followers and he built an entire radio podcast/website show around his … uh, republican point of view. I’m not quite sure how I stumbled upon his channel. BUT I was a registered republican for most of my life, so some of the things he talks about I totally agree. Now, I of course, will never buy any of his products, NOR will I entertain the idea of using his recommendations. Why? Well, I just saw him recommending My Pillow. Gross. Plus, he fucking readings from a script, and no one has ever said, “Ben — you. talk. too. fucking. fast.” It’s not like he actually knows who I am or will ever read my blog/website. I’m not saying go subscribe, but go check it out and see if you learn something from a different perspective. If I remember correctly, his undergraduate degree was from HARVARD. I know, right? LAH DEE DAH. I personally think that college degrees are a little overrated. Wait, I have an MBA. Yeah, but honestly I really knew most of the stuff they taught … my undergrad is in business marketing. I did like project management and some of the HR classes.

CNN. Do you watch and get your news from CNN? Or do you watch FOX. There is also another channel called “TYT”. They are “The Young Turks”. I had to turn CNN off for a little while. All they can talk about is impeaching the former President Trump. How about we just unplug and go into sleep mode for the next few days. Although I just want to point out when Trump said “dead people voted”, my response is, “Yeah FOR YOU. dumb ass.” Oh, and don’t forget the thousands and thousands of old nursing home republicans that died because of COVID. #CNN if you are listening, I am so sick and tired of you playing the same video of the officer yelling as he is crushed in the door. We get it. Stop playing it. In fact, I am instructing all my readers to give it a break and do something creative with their time, rather than sitting in front of the tv, monitor, iPad, or smartphone. Hey look at me! I’m creating new blogs every day because my readers have been asking for new content. How is your blog/website coming along?

ZoneOfTech is another really good channel. The dude has over a million followers and all he does is review Mac products (mostly) and actually any type of tech gear he happens to be interested in at the time. He is from the UK so he has a cool accent. As a member of the “Cult of Mac”, I have learned a lot on product reviews and product launches. Yes, still loving my apple watch. The SHOP app tells me immediately when my packages hit the front door. Coolest feature next to text and calls on my wrist.

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If you have Disney+, like the millions of the world, then you might be aware of a new exclusive series called “WandaVision”. I am in the Marvel group on Facebook so before I started watching I read all kinds of comments. Enough for me to wait for at least 5 weeks of episodes that were available all at once. Episode 6 is available as of now. So if you haven’t seen it yet, or you are waiting for the whole season to be available, I won’t spoil it. However, I will give everyone a little background/inside comic book information. Wanda and her twin brother are the children of Magneto. She has the power to warp thought, into reality. In this new series, …. the “time” of when it is going on is kind of important. It starts out looking like “Bewitched” and is viewed in black and white and there is a studio audience, just like the tv show. Weird, but okay. So at first you might think she has traveled through time?? No.

Thanos has snapped his fingers, and half the world is dead. Vision is dead. The Avengers have not traveled through time to fix anything. Using her powers, and those absorbed by the MIND stone when she destroyed it, she creates a “dome” like bubble around a “perfect” community/home. In doing so, she has also trapped hundreds of humans in her bubble, and they are brainwashed to play along. So if that isn’t enough for you to take interest, Kevin Feige from Marvel, has thrown in some cool fun personalities. The “Bad Mom’s” … really bad mom, is in it. I can’t remember her name. Sorry. The Asian dad from “Fresh off the boat”, and the weird astrophysicist, Kat, from Thor. Each episode is a different time frame. The 50’s-60’s/black and white era, the 70’s, the 80’s. The episode that released today is a Halloween episode (I know, weird timing), so you can’t really tell the era. Shout out to #marvel for the retro costume for Wanda. I love it. I used to say Wanda looked like the pink/red Playboy bunny (in the comics). So … knowing these things, makes the show more enjoyable. If you just sit down to it, and have never watched a Marvel movie, or read a comic book, you are probably going to hate it. A lot of people really didn’t like watching black and white shows, and some people (like me) are so tired of the 70’s and 80’s. So knowing that, could you skip 1 & 2 and start on 3? Well YEAH! But it is only 39 minutes or so, and there are worse painful things to be watching. Like the uprising over in southeast Asia. The first two shows aren’t that bad, and if you like the Bad Mom’s actress, you will like the first episode. I know, it was really confusing to me too, and when started the pilot, I shut it down and said “Oh no. I don’t have time to be confused.”

Shout out to my new favorite steak restaurant, #Gallaghers in Las Vegas, in the New York casino. Years of visiting Vegas, and gazing into their perfectly cooled glass cases of dry aged premium beef, I finally was able to taste what rich people eat. Dude, it was $50 for my New York strip. Yeah, I’ve never paid that much for one piece of steak in my life! I think $30 is the most I’ve splurged, and that was during Denver Restaurant Week. It was absolutely delicious and everyone should go there at least once. I’d be perfectly happy if they did room service with Gallaghers. But I doubt it as you have to have reservations a month in advance. Remember you drink for free at the slots, so do you REALLY need to have a drink with that steak? I did and it was an $8 Budlight. Oh well. They didn’t give you salt or pepper. And I had to ask for crackers for my oysters, which they charged me a $1. Nice.

The “House” Always Wins

Even when you win, the house still wins more. What do I mean you ask? Well, almost every single slot machine in Vegas now operates on a ticket payout system. Long gone are the coins where you turned them into cashiers, mainly due to the fact that years ago there were some very smart stupid con artists who discovered how to rip off the machines by using a couple of simple tools. One of those tools was called “The light wand” and it would trick the machine and you would win. I watched the documentary on YouTube. Fascinating.

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Now back to the house winning, in more way than one. Since there is a “coin” shortage, if you happen to have any change on that ticket, you don’t get it. The house keeps it. While you might not think it is a lot, there was an entire movie on how a guy ripped off a bank by stealing pennies from millions. Yeah, so now you get the idea. So when you play slots, there are also hundreds of people that keep those little tickets as their keepsake. They put it in a scrapbook, or whatever. House kept that money too. And just so you know, there are still machines that you CAN play one penny one line. Or one quarter one line. No one is forcing you to hit MAX BET.

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People are strange and part of the experience of the trip is seeing the multitude of types of people. And people are lonely now, so when a guy like me comes up and starts up a chat while you are winning, usually goes over pretty well. You are either “GIRL” or “Dude”. A lot of people feel like it is more difficult to talk to strangers due to the pandemic. Well, we are both wearing our masks so it is okay. I stayed away from smokers. Speaking of … I forgot how many people smoke in Vegas. It is horrible. It was mostly while visiting Fremont Street, which doesn’t seem to have any impact, as thousands of people are gambling and drinking in public. If it was hotter I am sure more people would be drinking those giant frozen drinks. If you want to do the zip-line you have to make reservations online in advance, like at least 24 hours. My sister in law did the superman version and she said it was an exhilarating 3 minutes.

The clientele on Fremont and Circus Circus and probably pretty close, as they are not the “dress up” to go out crowd. Probably the cool factor is the overhead dome shield that is animated and protecting you from the blazing sun. Loud rock pop music is playing, and you can see all kinds of beggars. We saw a fat old huge breasted retired broke stripper. She had stars over her nipples and was wearing a plastic mask. It was … not pretty. But that is her income, taking picture showing off her mammoth tits. There is a giant 3 hotel property that is opening sometime this year in 2021. It is called All Resorts World. I watched a YouTube video on it, and it is very impressive. Looks expensive. They have 6000 positions open. Guess how many applicants applied. Nope. 85,000ish. They are more than overwhelmed and it is due to the thousands of people unemployed in Vegas.

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My brother and his wife stayed at the Golden Nugget on Fremont street, and I have to say I was rather impressed at how nice it was. They have a shark tank that is in the middle of the pool. The only complaint is when you enter the front door, there is no ramp for you roll your luggage. WTF? Right? #goldennugget Listen up and fix this. I am not the only person who has rolling luggage that visits your “classy” hotel. They had a lot of nice restaurants, including Claim Jumper, Tequila Bar, and Chik-Fil-A, and a Starbucks. I found out from my Uber that they DO have a dedicated Uber/Lyft pick up. It is IN the garage and you have to walk across the street up to the 2nd floor. No signage. WTF. Right? I know. Vending machines are closed but you can still get ice. So … bring your empty water bottle and fill it with ice for free ice water. And wash your hands after touching the button. Or use your elbow. Pools in Vegas open March 1st, so airlines and hotels have already increased prices as they know it will draw in more players. I think cruising down a lazy river with very few people around sounds amazing. I think another quick vacay at the Mirage is in my near future.

Las Vegas Review: Secrets on winning

Do you like the excitement, glamour and glitz of Las Vegas? Do you play slots? Like nice dinners every now and then? Yeah, me too. Since my birthday is in July, that is when I have been visiting Vegas. However, due to the pandemic, like everyone else, I have been putting my life on hold and staying home. After watching several YouTubers doing walking tours of Vegas, and seeing how things have changed so much I decided now was a good time to go visit again. I personally hate crowds, waiting in long lines, slowly walking like a dinosaur behind slow pokes. After you finally find that perfect machine you then have to wait because someone is hogging it. There are some downsides, such as needing a reservation at every restaurant, months in advance. Fortunately for me, I made reservations via the Open Table app immediately. Just so you know, there are no “shows”, most attractions are closed, and even a lot of the stores are closed as they can’t keep it sanitized. Decide where you want to eat in advance and make sure you can get reservations for your meals. Otherwise you might just be eating fast food, and that’s okay too. White Castle, In-N-Out, Chik-fil-A are all options if you don’t mind that kind of cuisine.

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So here are some things that made this trip extremely enjoyable, so I though I would share it with my readers. Right now there are some amazing deals going on for flights to get people to Vegas. In order for me to get my desired times, I had to use two carriers, which turned out to not be such a bad deal. I left Friday morning at 7 am, going out Spirit. Like all the airlines they charge for every extra, but that is sort of to be expected. I chose to upgrade to the front row seat after I bought my ticket and added a carry on bag. My row only had two seats with a nice armrest between us. Ample leg room and since most people are not paying for a carry on bag, people get seating quickly without holding up the aisle by shoving all their shit in the overhead compartment. Flying back Frontier was an upgraded seat as well but with a window view. I was fortunate that there was no one in the middle seat and the next seat over was a pilot flying standby/home. The trip to Vegas I watched the new movie “The Little Things” out now, starring Denzel Washington, and Jared Leto. I highly recommend downloading your latest favorite 2-3 hour movie to your device as this really does make a huge difference for trip attention deficit entertainment. Also be sure to bring a dark pair of sunglasses as there are no clouds in Vegas and it is always super bright. Dress in layers as it gets hot outside, and you get chilly in the air conditioned casinos.

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So some of the winning strategies for a great time include joining every casino member rewards program. They give you a plastic card that you put into machines. You get points that turn into cool benefits, like a free hotel room. If you are military or veteran you will get an automatic upgrade to the next tier level. MGM owns a boat load of casinos, I won’t go into all of them, but if you stay at the Mandalay Bay end, then almost all of those use the same card. I had always wanted to stay at Mandalay and had heard good things. It was no disappointment. It was super fancy and any king, queen or some level of royalty would feel right at home. What impressed me the most was my early check in, contact-less, and my smartphone digital key. Not once did I ever have to talk to an employee to get my room. Also as a safety precaution, you needed your key to operate the elevator to guest rooms. Another reason to have a rewards card is FREE DRINKS. Okay, so we all know that everything from water to alcohol is expensive to buy it yourself. Sure it is tempting, but why pay for it when you can get it free? Including your morning coffee. So rather than standing in line at Starbucks or where ever, pull out your stash of cards and shove it into a machine, drop in a $100, and a waitress magically shows up asking what you would like for a drink. I ordered coffee and gave her a $2 bill. Of course they will bring you water (normally $5 on the strip), a coke, a beer, whatever, … just as long as you are playing. Having the rewards card tells them you are a loyal patron and they want to make sure you have a good experience. Keep in mind though it takes awhile for them to make it back, to ensure you have fed enough money into the machine. Another reason to have those players cards is you are less likely to get carded. That is if you look young. I hate those stupid bracelets they put on you because they think you are too young to be there. You can’t get a players card without a drivers license.

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Keep in mind that if you stay on the strip to gamble, you will be less likely to win. We went to Fremont Street and it rained money on us the entire time. We also went to Circus Circus, where they actually have silver dollar slots where you put a real coin in and real coins come out. Playing an older machine, that is less glamour and boring will pay out more in small amounts, but more frequently. If a machine does not pay out within SIX button presses or handle bar pull, then you must CASH OUT/COLLECT and move on to another machine. You are there to make money, so don’t fall prey and just feed it money. I keep a billfold wallet full of $1 & $2 bills. The $2 bills are for anyone in the service industry. It ensures they remember me and give me good service. It is too tempting to put in a twenty and lose it in minutes. Put in a buck and hit max bet. I did that and won $99. Cash out, move along, find the next lucky machine. Never play machines by the front door, restrooms or escalators. Those machines are put there to draw you in as you wait for someone, and rarely pay out large amounts.

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In my room I was greeted with a very large room, and a welcome kit with hand sanitizer and a fancy face mask with a custom Mandalay Bay logo patch sewn on the front. The tv also converted into the airport arrival board, so you could quickly see if your flight is on time. Since my room was comp’d for free, I didn’t have an issue paying the $39 daily resort fee, for towels at a pool I couldn’t access since it was closed. WiFi that I didn’t need since my 5G is faster. They did sneak in a daily $10 beverage charge for something that I couldn’t figure out. So one night ended up still charging $59 to my American Express platinum card. I liked it there and would visit again. However, I did have an issue with my neighbors throwing a party. Screaming, laughing, shouting into their phones. By 10 I called guest services and asked for them to quiet down the partiers. They play by the 3 strike rule. If you get 3 noise complaints you are evicted that night and banned from all MGM properties. That usually gets people to call TF down. Also props to them for having a dedicated Uber/Lyft pickup drop off spot. Wandering from casino to casino it can get very confusing, so knowing your hotel has a good one is very advantageous. NEVER take a taxi. Always tell your Uber driver you visit all the time, and please take the highway for a 5 star review. I also throw out that I was a Lyft/Uber driver years ago when it was fun and safe. Covid and all. They get it and know you can screw their rating. Btw, if you didn’t know, all passengers (PAX) also have a secret rating. If you tip well, they will score you 5 also. I have a 5 star rating as I always tip well, I don’t make them wait for me, and I promise to give them a 5 star rating. That gives me experienced drivers with a 4.9 or higher rating. I personally know of passengers who got a 1 star rating and NO driver will pick them up. Ever. Damage the car. 1 star. Throw up. 1 star. You get the picture. I get a closer, faster driver than the average Joe who just downloaded the app with no rating. I always tell them I love their car (even if I don’t), and thank them for a 5 star experience and please give me 5 stars too.

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So if you like to play slots, then Vegas is THE place to be. Giant floor to ceiling screens run by Microsoft Windows, to suck you in, get you to play more and pay more. In the end, most are much poorer. Due to the fact that it is run by software, tells you right away that the machines are programmed to perform certain tasks. Take. Your. Money. So how do you win? Can you be one of those winners? Yes. No. Maybe. First off, do not play a machine immediately after it has paid out big. Talk to the person who was playing. Did they win big or just insert a ticket from another machine, play a few games, and then cash out the ticket. That makes a difference. Remember in the old days, the machines were the boring BARS and lucky 7’s. They worked on a coin based system. The machine had to take in more money than it was paying out, and it was a timing mechanism, and some even worked on a scale/weight used. My personal strategy is to win a lot of low paying machines rather than going for the gold. Never play a progressive machine. Those are tied into some network where you can see in real time how much money people are losing at once. Crazy right? If you recognize your favorite character then that machine has something called royalties and or copyright licensing that needs to be paid. So stay away from Vanna, Carrie Bradshaw, the Flintstones, and definitely Homer. Yes, they look cool, they are fun and make neat sounds but you won’t likely win as much, if at all.

Vegas has almost returned to normal. Colorado has more safety precautions, as they clean the machine after someone touches it. Not so much in Vegas. Take hand sanitizer and wash your hands a lot and you should be fine. As gross as it sounds, people still do not wash their hands after using the restroom. Remember that when you touch the SPIN button.

If you liked this article do me a favor and like my Facebook page. I just did my first Tik Tok video on Fremont street. I have 1 follower now. Awesome. You can see it on my Instagram page.

Mr. Brightside

If you think I am referring to the amazing hit song by The Killers, you are incorrect. Did you know that many colleagues and friends would call ME Mr. Brightside, because I am always looking on the bright side of things. When I worked part time at AT&T, I sometimes only saw some of my co-workers once or twice a week. When we were all required to attend mandatory … whatever, we were all forced to work past our shift. I saw it as a good thing as I hadn’t seen my favorite coworker in a long time. So, trying to make the best of a shitty situation. No one likes to have to count inventory. At least I don’t, and it is a deal breaker for me.

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So if you have decided a vow of silence on television, newspapers, Facebook, Twitter, or whatever, then you may not know that there has been some nasty shit going on in the United States this past week. I’d like to think you were on sabbatical enjoying your reading and mediation time — and being unplugged is a good thing. So now that you are back with society and checking your email or reading up on this blog, I am here to tell you that the United States government was attacked by some really not so nice people. In a nutshell, there was a “peaceful” protest that turned into a riot in Washington D.C. and sadly 5 people died. Nothing compared to what took a hit due to the coronavirus. But that is not what this blog is about today. It is more about “congress” getting attacked in “their” workplace. Hmmm. When the kids were being shot at in schools, did anyone in congress give a hoot/TWEET? Well, some did, but did anything concrete come out of it? But like most school shootings, they don’t actually directly involve “us”, right? That kind of bizarre behavior is someone else’s problem.

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The democrats are adamant about impeaching the president again, … and at this point I’m like, “just let it go”. He will be out of office, the people have spoken/voted. This new president and vice will make amazing things happen that the next term will be a no brainer. Yes, the president was a little too overzealous with his fans/followers. Yes, he should be reprimanded, and maybe just fined. That is what they do to professional athletes. As he has been 86’d from every social media platform, that in itself is punishment. I’m not defending him, but man, that would totally suck if you couldn’t even look at pictures on Pinterest, photos on Instagram, or see updates from friends on Facebook.

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If you are like me, you are still binge watching in your mancave. Speaking of binge watching, if you are not following me on Facebook, then you don’t know that I posted about Discovery +. Yep, first Disney and now Discovery. It is an add on cable channel subscription that gives you access to those cable channels without having cable. You know I cut the cable months ago, and really the only thing missing was the History channel, since I am kind of a nerd. But VOILA! Now I can get that and HGTV, the SCI channel and many more. I opted for commercial free for just $7 a month. If you are going to binge watch, you might as well learn something new and old. I am going to be building my dream home in the near future. so all those renovating design shows are just fantastic for me. If you are having a bad day, you can always watch “Naked and Afraid”. Those poor souls are starving, cold, in pain, eaten alive by bugs, … I mean, that is all kinds of suffering.

If you are reading this via a forwarded email, be sure to hit up the website and scroll to the footer to get your own email when I post. When you are always looking on the bright side of things, your life begins to brighten.

Social Media Platforms

How crazy is it when your favorite social media person is no longer on social media? If you think I am talking about Trump, you are wrong. Ha! No, actually I was talking about Chef Pete Evans, mostly known from his paleo diet show on Netflix. There are a few chefs that I love, like Martha, and naturally I want to see posts from other chefs. So what happened? One day, he was suddenly gone from Facebook. The more I thought about it, I couldn’t remember the last post I saw. If you didn’t know he is from Australia and evidently was spreading conspiracy theories that got himself deleted. He had over a million followers. In this day and age, the number of followers is like a digital currency. The more followers/fans you have, the more power you have. Pete published tons of books. And with his following, he could go to his publisher and almost guarantee countless sales with little to no marketing costs involved. That in itself will cause a publisher to stop and take note. He is still on Instagram, but it isn’t quite the same as seeing his posts show up in my Facebook newsfeed. I would be really upset if I was all of the sudden locked out of my social media platforms.

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I can’t imagine what President Trump is going through right now. His idea of working is sending multiple tweets and Facebook posts and then spend the rest of the day reading all the comments. Seriously, I know that is what his “executive time” consists of. I’m psychic. I’d say he could go on TikTok but he sort of screwed himself over on that platform. There is always Google+, LinkedIn, and owning your own website/blog where you can always post whatever you want. Plus, depending on a social media platform for all your content that they own, is not so smart. I think I have mentioned that I had hundreds of amazing writings on MySpace and then one day they were gone. I also used another platform, Xanga, that also disappeared. I had thousands of readers on that platform. Maybe some of them found me here. You never know. 2021 certainly hasn’t let up on surprises. I can’t imagine what is coming next.

Facebook vs. Parler

73,923,495 people voted republican. Why did I only lose 1 person on Facebook? Oh wait, she is now requesting me to be a friend, … again. Where was this Facebook mass exodus for Parler? For the record, I voted for Harris, just like the other 80 million legally registered voters in the United States. I actually thought I would have this huge decline in “friends” on Facebook. There are some very vocal people who think they can persuade their own circle/network to think like they do. Interesting concept, but that only works for so long.

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Believe it or not, there are thousands of women who “think” they can change their boyfriend once he is their husband. And that ladies and gentlemen is the reason why there is such a high divorce rate in the United States. NEWSFLASH: You can’t change someone unless he/she wants to change, and even then you cannot modify someone’s behavior to suit your needs … long term. Oh sure you can manipulate someone to get your way, once or twice.

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So what is Parler you may ask? Another new social media platform/app that I have to download, update a profile and try to connect with friends/family/role models? Yikes! Okay, I will be the first to admit that I am sort of set in my ways. There are some “things” that I don’t really want to partake in on a daily or weekly basis. Another social media platform … or I guess in this case, an alternative to Facebook. But is it really an alternative platform when it is secretly a place for grown ass adults to go and bitch about things they have no control over? Hmm… I am going to go with the latter. I took I look at their website, and it appears to be a “free speech” platform where users can bitch about Biden and the election and not get banned/muted/Facebook jailed for doing so. Okay, I get it. You can also write your own blog on your website with no restrictions. Complaining doesn’t get results, and it certainly doesn’t accomplish anything on a positive level. Negativity changes your “vibration” within the universe and as you may know, also causes you to attract negative things in your life. We are all spiritual magnets, and you can attract some negative people very easily. You have heard the phrase “birds of a feather flock together”? Misery loves company.

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Now I have not joined so I don’t really know all the tea, but I do know that people are spending way too much time on their smartphones on time wasting apps. If you know me personally, then you know I am usually busying doing “something” and scrolling aimlessly for hours is not one of them. Facebook in general I think is pretty toxic. It used to be a place where you could go and see fun updates about your friends and family. Unfortunately, most of my friends are not writers or authors, and those who are rarely post any actual content of their own. However, many of my republican advocates have REposted various content that usually is just false data that has not been verified. I will be very happy when we go back to a society where lies are not accepted and making false accusations should have serious detrimental consequences. Many of these same supporters also believe that the coronavirus is a conspiracy or a hoax. Just when you think people can’t get any stupider, they pull shit like this. I personally know of a handful of people who have DIED, so there is no trying to pull the wool over my eyes and think that it is a bad case of the flu and those people died of something else. WTF. No. Science and statistical data results are not the liars.

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The scary thought that crosses my mind, is what if the virus has serious long term effects like getting shingles from chickenpox? Thousands upon thousands got exposed to the virus, and many did recover … for now. Thousands upon thousands report constantly feeling weak, no strength, tired, and it is always hard to breathe. We have no data as to what happened to all the vape smokers and their outcome after COVID19. I did watch a video of Alyssa Milana, former Wen spokesperson and Charmed actress, where she is losing clumps of hair when gently brushing her hair. I don’t know about you, but I would probably think that would be a big concern for someone who uses her looks for income. I also don’t want to just lose my hair as an after effect of the virus. We are on the brink of a vaccine/preventative measure. People just need to chill TF out for another couple of months. Start your manuscript. Write your autobiography. For those that are dumb shits and think they are immune, go ahead and write your obituary. I personally did this once as a group writing exercise and it amazing how YOU see your life, versus someone else see it. No one ever “thinks” that it is going to happen to them. Dying that is. If you think about it, you probably have enough supplies to last you for another 30-45 days. I know I have lots of cans of soup in my kitchen. When I was really poor I used to eat rice and egg drop soup. It was cheap and easy to make and it filled me up. Plus with all those eggs, I was getting tons of protein. You bought all those dvd’s years ago on new release day Tuesday. Do you know ALL the lines from each movie? Can you play the “What movie did this quote come from” and always win? I can’t.

In in case you missed all the sales for Black Friday, Cyber Monday is tomorrow and there certainly will be more opportunities for you to spend your voting dollars. Despite the Nintendo Switch and PS5 sold out everywhere, Switch users can go to the eStore and download games at a huge discount. My console is already loaded with games for that rainy day, so I did not get any additional new games. Legend of Zelda Age of Hyrule is waiting for me. I saw online that someone has already beat the game and I can’t get past level 1. I did watch a cool YouTube video of all the cut scenes made into one. Actually, I saved it to watch it later, as it is almost 2 hours long. Yeah, I know crazy right? If the cut scenes are that long, how many hundreds of hours will it take to finish the game? If you have long hair, did you check out my first YouTube video? I’ll be making another one this week. I got a new hair straightening device I saw on an infomercial. It is crazy cool how it rotates and smooths your hair. Check out my Instagram profile picture. I usually wear my hair in a bun. I tell you, I could totally be an actor or something. I have so many different looks. And with the power of make-up, who knows? Ordinary people get discovered on Instagram more than any other platform.

Although, technically I am writing and producing my YouTube talk show. One thing I have noticed, which most artists don’t do … is market themselves very well. I will be watching something and have no idea who they are. So, with my videos I’ll have my name displayed at all time. Most of my viewers will already know me. I haven’t announced my channel on any of my social media … yet. Why? Well, just like a Facebook page, you really need to wait until you have at least 30 minutes of content/scrolling. If you don’t have very much, people might visit, see you have nothing to entertain them, and they may never come back. I have also noticed that every single YouTube artist tells you to like and subscribe to their channel. I haven’t. Why? Well, I don’t know after one video if I am going to want to see more. It literally took me 20 videos before I subscribed (not liked) Tati. Tati is a beautiful super model YouTube artist/influencer who is super fun to watch and learn beauty product recommendations. What can I say? She is entertaining.

Best Buy is running their sales all weekend. Friday morning I scored a new 27″ monitor. They have a 49″ gaming monitor on sale for $750! Normally $999. Too bad my Switch wouldn’t translate into a monitor like that. I wonder if the new PS5 will be full screen for the first person shooter games?

If you liked this article/website, please like my Facebook page. If you read this via forwarded email, you can subscribe on the website in the footer. I am not sponsored by anyone and have no affiliation with Tati Westbrook.

Hair Expert

If you know me personally, or you have been following my social media — back to the days of MySpace, then you know I have had short hair most of my life. In fact, I taught myself how to cut my own hair — with clippers, and I have also been cutting hair, unofficially since I don’t hold a license to use a pair of scissors. Crazy right?

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One thing that has remained true my entire life it that my hair grows super fast, at in incredible rate. If I had to pay a barber or stylist to cut my hair I would literally be paying thousands of dollars a year to keep my “high and tight” military haircut. Even when I would go on base, it was $10 for a haircut, and I would need one every week. I had to cut my hair as frequently as guys had to shave their beard/face. So when I approached my 40’s, like most men out there I started losing my hair. Mostly on the top and not at the back or sides. Why is this? There HAD to be a logical, scientific reason why this happened to billions of people. Men, women, teens, kids … no one was immune to hair loss. So, … what are some of the causes of hair loss?

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Well, I am not going to bore you with all the research that I have done, but I will give you one piece of really good advice. Oh yeah? What is that you wonder? Stop washing your hair with hot water, and take better care of your scalp. Hot water as we all know, causes the pores of your skin and scalp to open, making it very vulnerable. When you drown those pores with shampoo, conditioner, hair spray, styling products, you essentially are slowly killing your hair follicles. It’s not your fault. When you were a toddler sitting in a bathtub your mommy put “baby safe” shampoo on your head and let it soak. And then you continued to do that for your entire life. After so many years of abuse, your hair just gives up and dies.

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A few years ago I stopped with the weekly haircuts and focused on letting it grow. My instagram has the latest photos of me, and I have some incredible hair growth pictures. There are many things I did to live a new lifestyle that included a high protein nutritional diet, exercise, lots of sleep and being very gentle with my hair. I would cover it in public, little to no product, and only carefully washing with cold water and never letting my scalp get any “poison” on it. There actually is a whole movement called the “No Poo”, which people have ditched shampoo all together. I actually use Kerastase products, a company from Paris, the parent company is Loreal. It is kind of expensive, but at this point, my hair is totally worth it. So why am I calling myself a hair expert? Well, if you look at my hair where it is now, where it was when I hit my 40’s, you would be asking what did I do? In addition, I have an identical twin brother who does NOT have my luscious locks of hair. I am 47 1/2 years of age, and I don’t look it. I actually am proud to share my real age with people. So, with my youthful appearance and long hair, it has motivated me to begin planning my YouTube channel. Sure anyone can hit the record button the their smartphone and then upload it to Youtube. After watching hundreds of … less than entertaining videos, I have determined that there are several things that makes a video successful. It has to be pleasant to listen to, as well as look at. With lockdown and covid, it doesn’t take too long and you have watched every video of your favorite YouTube artist and you are hungry for more. I know, as I have watched every video of some beauty bloggers/vloggers/artists. Just like you, I’m sort of bored at times, so I think that there are some of my own friends … and fans that would love to see/hear/learn what I have learned about hair, skincare and make-up. I have learned a TON of things that I know other people would appreciate knowing as well. Guys can wear make-up and not look like a clown. They can wear it to just look amazing, so people notice them, and not their flaws. Discolored, UV abused skin is a flaw. Redness, dryness, and wrinkles are not exactly poster child material. So what products do I use and which ones do I like? A lot. And I am not on any PR lists, so everything that I try/use, I buy with my hard earned money.

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I have been a content creator for a really long time. Some of my readers hit my blog daily on MySpace and Xanga. Yes, I know I was much more active writing back then. I have also contemplated using video to maybe read some of my book. It is the one thing that is copyrighted that I have the right to read without getting sued by someone. Maybe I will do different channels — storytime, beauty/hair, educational, HR stuff. I don’t know how other artists do it, but I would like to be organized and have like an outline of the things I am going to talk about and cover. I guess you could say this was sort of my next level of teaching. I used to teach at an online college. This blog probably teaches people in a different way.

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If you are an artist or creator, can you make something that you can sell on Etsy as additional income? I know I will be buying on Etsy as it supports individuals versus the big box Fortune 500 companies. For those from the United States, they will be celebrating Thanksgiving. The day that they stole the land from the native american indians. Yeah, I have mixed feelings about that too. I like to be thankful every day. Thankful my family is still alive and safe. Thankful I am healthy and happy. There are many people who are grieving and my heart goes out to them. Personally I don’t think that people are taking the pandemic as seriously as they should. Stay home. Stay safe. Don’t touch anything in public. I open doors when my butt now, so I don’t have to touch the door handle. Hey, maybe YOU could be a content creator too. Maybe you could launch a YouTube channel on something you know a lot about. Everyone has something they can share. Maybe you have an awesome Thanksgiving recipe you want to share. My sweet potato souffle is always a show stopper.

Your voting dollars could actually be a lifeline for a family in need. Go buy something or a lot of things on Etsy today. Take one day of NOT going to Walmart or Amazon and instead go to Etsy. A thousand thank you’s from every artist. You can also buy gift certificates from you local small businesses as holiday gifts that will totally help that business make it through the pandemic.