Drug Testing in the Workplace

I have been searching the internet and keep coming across databases which list companies by state that drug test their employees... Is it just me or does anyone feel their rights are being violated by submiting to a pre-employment drug test? Is it the employers right to know what their employees do outside of work hours? Doesn't any one else feel that if you want to drink or smoke or do whatever it is you do after hours to relax that it's no ones business????

Companies waste all this money on these tests when results have shown that those who do smoke outside of work are more productive while at work?! I understand the need to weed out the crack smokers, but those innocents who smoke pot and bother no one..... just leave them all alone....

(Mugsy does not condone the use of narcotics for the record)

Potato Chips and Lap Tops...Technology at it's best...

I have sat here, unemployed, and noticed a few things going on... it's like fashion where the old comes back to be new... I digress, let me explain... In the 90's someone invented a tablet PC, and it was about $400 dollars more expensive then it's normal counterparts and why? Because you could flip the screen and write on it like a notebook...hoping it would catch on to college students they produced alot of these....alas due to price nothing ever came of it.... Then the Palm came around and people could carry their notebook in their pocket cept that the stylus sucked and half the things your wrote came out wrong.... Now they have these "Mini" PC's which are also tablets like the HP Touch Smart, which are revitilizing the laptop industry... wouldn't it have made sence to try this technology at a reduced price like now then? Perhaps the market would be larger already..... It's kind of like potato chips... Now they count the number of chips in the package (100 pringles?) where was this technology when I was buying half a bag of Lays?

New and Improved... how can it be both?

So at 3am you watch alot of infomercials. But has anyone ever really tried most of these products... we'll look at two at the moment... Sham-WOW... I was hard pressed to believe that anything that works like a paper towel can't be better than a paper towel, but if I didn't see it with my own eyes I would never believe it... A few friends of mine bought this and while I was at their house, their dog decided to have an accident in the house... believe it or not when she whipped this out it actually picked up the whole dang puddle... without anything left over... amazing...

But what about this Pedi Paws thing that they keep raving about on the TV. After trying to save for one ($20 is alot of money these days) I was finally given one by a friend of my family because her dogs couldn't use it... however when Mugsy got one look at this thing and heard the whirring of the emery board he ran for the hills and hid from me all night....so much for the advertising of safe, quick and easy....

Like I said...do these things really work?

Movie Ticket Prices

Has anyone noticed that even before this economy started going down hill fast that movie ticket prices are out of control. Easily you can spend 10.00 on one ticket, how crazy is that? Why in the name of Mickey Mouse would you spend that much money on a ticket?

Every once in a while you come across a good deal like the drive in theatre in Warwick, NY offers two movies for $8.00 if you get in for the early movie, otherwise you pay the same price just for one. But why not go see both, you have three screens to tune into.

However this blogger has decided that the power of the Internet is far better than spending all these amounts for movies. Did you know that most films get released last in the USA? And if you're willing to deal with advertisements on the bottom or foreign subtitles you can actually watch most of these movies in the theatre or released for free? Even Blockbuster charges you $5.00 a movie. The only downside: buffer time... but do the math, you spend an hour and a half at dinner prior to the movie, then 2 hours in the movie + previews which is an extra 15 minutes... so my suggestion is you open it up, pause it, let it buffer and go have dinner... by the time you come back you have a full movie to watch and no previews to bother with. Thank the Internet Gods... (Mugsy gives this 2 paws up!!)

So in an economy where everything is crap and everything is too expensive try using the power of the Internet...besides everyone out of work gets tired of looking at the same job ads over and over again.

New Classics or Old Favorites?

While skimming through my channels tonight I stumbled across a few shows which managed to hold my attention. As I complained about in one of my previous posts sitcoms have died... however Nick@Nite has eliminated and banished old classics to TV Land such as I Love Lucy, Welcome Back Kotter, Bewitched and I Dream of Jeanie. But new classics have seemed to make their way to our beloved Nick@Nite such as Family Matters, Full House and Home Improvement. But are these old 90's favorites or new classics. TV Land awards are given every year much like the Oscars and have nominated some of these shows as New Classics... even Roseanne was given such honors....but is that where TV shows go to die?

But what about those in syndication that haven't quite made it there yet...like that 70's Show, Will & Grace, Friends and ugh...(choking back the vomit) Seinfeld. Will they be moved there soon to disappear into the unknown of Television History?

Mugsy suggests I mention all of those who haven't made it to either, such as Step by Step or Perfect Strangers.... something to ponder while you're flipping through the channels.

Mighty Cheese Villans

I'd like to share with you a certain bit of information that perhaps those who stumble across this will head my warning. Are you aware that most generic or non brand name versions of products we buy (such as supermarket branded items) are created by the same companies that create the main products. With this being said most of them are small family owned businesses... well... take the Ronzoni franchise to begin with... it's this bloggers direct knowledge that their non popular products such as cheese and breadcrumbs are created and packaged by a small NY (Orangeburg) based company. However these companies are deviant... like this one for example uses deciption to not only their employees but governement and banking bodies as well. Though they seem to be well "connected" if you catch my drift... so is it government corruption or well paid people in right places that allow the deception...

It's this bloggers knowledge as I said that 99.9% of the employees they have hired and let go for whatever the reason (though most have been bogus reasons) have applied for unemployment benefits....however they appeal every person's claim and usually win... does something seem fishy here? Does it sound like the cheese has gone rotten and no one has noticed? Is it amazing that they have no regard for human interest outside of their family and clique? Well there is another hearing coming up and it will be this bloggers pleasure to follow up with the verdict of their decision... if for once the employee wins the expose will of course be leaked and given to all the appropriate media outlets... HELP ME HOWARD indeed......

ADDED COMMENT TO RECENT POST

Mugsy would like to convey that the Twilight Series apparently smells good....

Twilight.....*SPARKLE!*

With fear of sounding like a squealing teenager I debated with myself whether I would mention it or not. However after much refusing I finally gave in and read the Twilight Saga books, currently on the 4th one...Breaking Dawn... Which I have to say, the series has turned out to be fantastic... however I find the 4th book slightly annoying, as I do the main charecter Bella...

One...why would you want to write the book from one person's point of view...and then change your mind and start writing from another point of view... in book 4 (spoilers...) it goes from Bella's POV to another charecter Jacobs as if there are multiple stories binded together...now i digress and realize that it's all part of the story and the author feels that that we need to hear his side of the story, however if that's what you wanted to do than you should have written a seperate book or written the series in a variety of versions if you wanted to play Point of View games....

As for the main charecters she's of course a whiny girl who cant make up her mind... i wanna marry him, i don't wanna marry him.. i'm gunna fall in love with 2 men... and dependant on them all... now i'm not one for feminism but do you have any idea how many kids and people around the world have read this book? What is that telling the young people that it's ok to do what she does? We all know that fictional charecters put themselves in harms way for the story..like Harry Potter throwing himself into battle countless times with Voldemort but when you make the only fictional thing the vampire and have a tragic flaw of being human and weak...you just want to reach into the pages and slap her to make a damn decision...

I also found this book was highly disapointing in the "imagination" department... I feel this should have been written as an adult story and given alot more graphic detail.... so after reading this story, as great as it is, if you feel a little short on the plot, try picking up the Charlene Harris books..the Sookie Stackhouse novels which are the basis for HBO's True Blood. Truely more adult, graphic and may have you reaching for the next book right away...Plus the added bonus of them being 1/8 the size of the Twilight Saga...

Puppies and Kittens....for Sale...Sold!

Ok so here's my biggest quam in the world right now...at 1:50am.... you see all these commercials on TV tell you come adopt a puppy and save the abused puppies then they show you all these sad pictures of sad dogs and it makes you cry...so you go online and look for a puppy or what not in your area and there are TONS of them...

So you look at these dogs but oh wait, they charge you between $125-$250 dollars!! What the hell is that?! You want to save these animals and give them a home and tons of love but can't do that unless you don't pay a bill that month... I understand the whole application process obviously you need to make sure they go to loving homes and not somewhere who will abuse them, but give me a break...yes i know some of the money goes to shots and nueter fees, but most of the time they are slightly older dogs and those things happened a while ago and you're money will go to the facility... again, i get it... but Non for profits who run these organizations have the ability like everyone else to run on Grants and Donations and Fund Raisers....and I should know, I'm in the non-for-profit world I see it every day...

So once in a while make a family happy and make it a smaller cost, for god sakes I can get a cat for free and they are abused almost more than dogs..... just something that barks at me...

Regardless....before you go to the pet store, look to adopt first....

Jon & Kate + Who cares?

Ok is it just me or do we all not care about Jon & Kate and all their kids... and gasp! oh no! one of them is having an affair? Like we didn't all see that coming? And the octomom? Who cares? We already know people exploit the system and now it's a big shock the fertility drugs did more than what they should have done and now there are a billion babies coming out of these people....

Instead can't we focus on something positive like Fifi the water skiing chipmunk or something? So we, America, have pulled what I will fowardly refer to as a"Sanjya". American Idol kept that dorky loser on because all the damn minorities thought they were slick and were going to vote like crazy to keep him, not to mention all the screaming teeny bopper childern who have no place voting for people because they're "cute", turning Idol into a damn sham instead of the talent competition it should be. So yes we've pulled a "Sanjya" and made Jon & Kate +8 the number one show on television right now, doesn't that make you want to puke on your shoes?

We might as well have called it Bill and Monica + Hillary... I mean really people... can we watching something that doens't suck? The whol concept puts Mugsy to sleeep...