Posted by Tony on Jan 17, 2010 in
Business,
Community,
Computers,
Education,
Employment,
Entertainment,
Food,
Gossip,
People,
Personal,
Politics,
Transportation Facebook? What the heck is Facebook? Why would I need or want it? Well!!!!! Facebook is a social networking website. The website’s name stems from the colloquial name of books given at the start of the academic year by university administrations with the intention of helping students to get to know each other better.
Why? Because everybody needs to be on Facebook! It allows users to add friends, send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves.
For example: I graduated in 1981 and haven’t seen many of my classmates since the graduation party (that had way too much everade) at the end of the year….. Facebook has allowed many of us to at least connect again after all these years, share pictures of our families and even organize a multi-class renunion (I didn’t attend but the pictures shared from it were really nice to see). It also allows people to find old college friends, neighborhood friends that might have moved way in the 5th grade and even family members that you may not have seen in years. Once the connection is made you can stay in touch, share pictures, videos and chat in real time or leave post on other friends and members walls (page). Additionally, users can join networks organized by city, workplace, and school or college.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that if you don’t have a Facebook page go sign up. It’s quick, simple and may help you connect with people you have completely forgotten about. http://www.facebook.com
Tags: Classmates, Facebook, Family, Friends
I have to say that over the past 35 or so years I have always made some type of New Year Resolution. It may have been to become a Rock Star (lol), Quit Smoking, Get Rich, Lose Weight, Get Healthy or All of the above. I can honestly say that I never kept one single resolution completely. Sure I quit smoking 5 or 6 years ago but it wasn’t because of a resolution and I’m very proud of that fact. But, if it wouldn’t kill me I really enjoyed that nasty habit! As for a Resolution this year!? NO WAY! I’m gonna let life come at me one day at a time and do what’s necessary to live that day to the best of my ability. I still see the economy as bad and not getting better anytime soon. Health care will still be CRAP even if we have a brand new reformed system. Jobs will still be lost and people will still struggle.
MY HOPE ,however, is for the economy to rebound, get a new healthcare system, for medical cost to go down, have more money left in our pockets at the end of the month so we can REALLY start saving for retirement and more jobs to be created and companies to stay or come back to America.
I have to say that I am really thankful this year for my family, friends and great people that keep me employed. I look forward to the New Year and all the challenges and blessings it may bring. To all of you:
HAPPY NEW YEAR
Tags: Happy New Year, No Way, Resolution
We need a couple of really good restaurants to setup shop in Poteau. Chili’s, Applebee’s, Bennigan’s, Wendy’s etc…. Come on “Powers-That-Be” let’s get it done. I like a few of our food places now but want a little more choice of quality food. Maybe even a glass of wine with a steak. (I don’t drink wine but would just because). So let’s get out there and SHOP our city for the potential it has. Poteau has the potential to be a great community and our Current City Government and Some County Officials have gone a long way to get us headed in the right direction. NOW IT’S TIME TO FOLLOW THROUGH!!
On another note I want to be able to pay my Poteau water bill online. I can pay every bill I have, whether through choice pay or their own online payment system on a web page. Gas, Electric, Internet, Cell Phone but not Water. Com’on Mr. Mayor we talked about this so get it done. You have made a lot of great things happen here (thats why I haven’t ran for Mayor you’re doing a great job) so just make the online bill pay happen and get on the ball for some good restaurants. I will buy your first dinner at our new Chilis if you’ll make it happen 
Tags: Good Eats, Good People, New Business, Online Bill Pay, Places to Eat
Wait wait wait before you judge!!!! I am a 46 year old who has not touched the drug in many many years. In my past there may have been a time that it was in my hand, I may have taken a hit…..or two…..and possibly inhaled…..deeeeply…….There’s even a possibility that I enjoyed it at the time. There’s also a very good chance that I was drinking legalized Beer at the time increasing the tax income for the city, county and state. With that said and now being older and more responsible I seldom drink and no smoking Marijuana (Pot) at all and not sure how many years it’s been since I last did and it really doesn’t matter.
Let’s get down to business now. And business is gaining tax revenue from the Billions (yes Billions with a “B”) marijuana trade in the US as well as the trade between other countries that are currently smuggling it in. I know there’s a downside to drugs as there is in anything similar including alcohol, guns, food (yes food), cigarettes, and prescription medications. Anything can be abused.
If Marijuana were legalized and controlled similar to alcohol it would cause no more social issues than alcohol and I agree those are bad enough but most of those issues can be helped by education and needs to start and run K through 12 . The main advantage of legalization would be the tax revenue that the government would gain which could pay for social security, Medicare and health care. I think an individual should be able to grow their own for their own personal use maybe pay a yearly license and then buy a different license to be a retailer or wholesaler. The same rules and regulations that apply to alcohol should apply to marijuana. There are many things that would have to be worked out to make this work and stop the billions in spending on the drug war. I do think that it could help the country’s economy in many ways. This is just an opinion…..what’s yours?
Tags: Economy, legalize marijuana, taxes
What would you do if the dream came true and you won the Lottery? Here’s how I think I would handle it.
So my numbers matched and I’ve found myself millions of dollars richer in a matter of minutes. The first thing I would do is KEEP IT QUIET! I think if you immediately announce it to the world you’ll end up with relatives and friends you never knew you had. I would then immediately contact a Lawyer and Accountant. I have a few friends that are Attorneys and Accountants that I think I could trust to them to help me through the next few months or year of the life changing event. Now it’s off to contact the lottery commission to let them know I’ve won and eventually pay the taxes and take possession of a large sum of money. Before I help a single person I would get a chunk of the money setup in some type of long term annuity or investment for my family’s future. Now it’s time to take care of business. I would quietly gather my families (mine and my wife’s) together and let them know what’s happened. I would also let them know that they will all receive a nice bit of the winnings and what they get is what they get…..in other words don’t just take it and blow it. It could change their lives. I think I would give each of them equal amounts so that nobody can complain that someone got more. I’ve thought about this a bit and think that I would just pay off everyone’s bills but that wouldn’t be fair if one family member didn’t have any debt they wouldn’t get anything. Then I thought, “pay off the family member’s debt then give them a gift of x amount of thousands of dollars”. Yes, someone is going to get more but they should all just be happy and use it to prepare for their future and retirement (and maybe spend just a little). I would make sure all kids and grand kids in the family had an opportunity to get a college education. They don’t get the cash they just get their education paid for as long as they are going to school and making the grade. Yes they would have to make the grades! After all of our families are taken care of I would want my wife to choose what charity organizations (if any) or other people she wants to help. I wouldn’t want any attention for helping but would just want to help. I would probably live similar to how I live now but would work for myself doing something I really enjoyed as would Stacy (actually it would be nice for her to not work : ) ). Most likely we’d build a new house and replace a few old cars. I wouldn’t blow it on big boats or expensive cars just to have the toys I’d just get what I need. The main thing is to prepare for the future because we never know what tomorrow might bring.
Tags: Fantasy, Fun, Life Changing, Lottery
I have to say I am quite frustrated with our health insurance as I am sure many millions of other people are. I am one of the lucky people whose employer, or actually my spouse’s employer provide us the ability to pay a chunk of her pay check to have family healthcare. Did I say healthcare….I meant to say Pain in the ass! Yes our quality insurance is a pain in the backside. It doesn’t pay for the things it is supposed to such as preventative care and it fights with medical facilities and does its very best to not pay anything for months and months. The medical facility becomes angry with us and we get angrier with the insurance company. In the end they finally decide they need to pay and send them a check……not all of what they owe but just enough for the clinic to send us more letters to say you still owe us…..then we go back and argue with the insurance company for several more weeks to finally have them pay all of their part 6, 8 or 12 months later……I know this happens to people all over the country every day. Just read a few forums online or watch the news…..Do we need a public healthcare system? I don’t know but I sure as hell do know that the current Insurance companies need to be controlled by some entity so that this kind of crap isn’t allowed. No more of the “we’re not covering your health problem because it’s too expensive or this is a pre-existing condition even though you may have been born with the condition”……Healthcare in this country could be good if the Insurance companies were forced to do what they are supposed to do instead of hanging on to your money as long as they can to earn as much profit as they can with it. Yes we all need healthcare but insurance is a different story!
Tags: Healthcare, Insurance
I just had to get this off my chest. Why can’t AT&T get 3G Cell Phone service to Poteau? We’re not that far from Ft. Smith and you can actually get it in Pocola……They could put it on one tower here and it would cover all of Poteau….How about we all complain since they are doing like a Billion dollar upgrade because of the class action suit filed for the misleading 3G speed advertising and non-availability. Any one that uses AT&T/Cingular needs to complain by letter and phone (dial 611 on your cell phone) and COMPLAIN. If you’ve ever used 3G you know why we need it and if not just do it for me please
Tags: 3G, Cell Phones
1. Employment! The most important thing to improve the community is create new jobs. Jobs create revenue for businesses and trickle down to the entire community.
2. Fiber To The Home! Let me explain! We need more competitive communication services in our area. We are lucky to have DSL at least. But to only have ONE cable company and ONE Telephone company, and only those two provide Internet. Thank God for Dish Network! I would like to see Fiber To The Home allowing use to have Smart Meters for our water, gas and electric allowing us to see usage and manage our utilities better. Then we have the ability to use Voice Over IP (VOIP) for telephone and then IP TV or digital television. All for about 90.00 a month. This is available in 1000s of communities nationwide already. Now that President Obama has included Broadband Internet in the stimulus package maybe our city can apply for grants to make this happen!
3. Build a Community Center! THIS IS ON IT’s WAY! Great Job Mayor Shockley, Councilmen/Councilwomen and Planning Commission. Thank you for making our community better!
4. Improve School and Facilities! We all know what needs to be done here. As I have said before, quit piecing together buildings at a landlocked location and build a first class facility with first class Science, Math and Fine Arts buildings. Build a quality Gymnasium and Football Stadium with Artificial Turf. It may not be long before we are thrown into 5-A and we just don’t have 5-A facilities. As a side note: Stop the petty crap in the administration like whining about the young wrestling Pirates not having the ability to use our school’s wrestling facilities and even more silly: use of the Pirate name (Poteau does not own a trademark on the word Pirate). Who do you think you are preventing our young future Pirates from learning from our coaches and kids at that young (5-6-7 and up) age. These kids are the future of our community as well as future athletes and their parents and our coaches are taking their own time and money to build what will be our future championship wrestling team. Many of these kids are already champions. This is the kind of pettiness that our school board needs to put an end to. Even if it means replacing some of the administration! I know many are worried about statements I make regarding athletics and think I should focus more on education. Athletics create a lot of income for our school system. They are also important in teaching kids discipline, self respect, teamwork, trust and many other great attributes.
5. Street Improvement. We really need a turn lane throughout Broadway. Basically from the Industrial Park to FatAlberts (I’m exaggerating a bit). It’s always nice to have good roads to build a great community. Not that ours are horrible (many cities have much worse roads). I also remember a time when it was discussed to extend the Muskogee Turnpike. Can that be revisited?
I’m sure there are many other things that can be done but that’s where you come in. Feel free to comment and list them here and maybe as a community we can see them accomplished.
“Bandit Born and Raider Bred, when I die I’ll be Pirate Dead!”
Tags: Athletics, Children, Community Improvement, Education, Roads, School Board, Schools, Youth
I have actually heard people say “we’re not in a recession here in LeFlore county”…..WHAT?….Are you nuts? I see people living and feeling it everyday. The price of gas has gone down a bit but it hit our bank accounts hard over the last year. People had to dip into savings just to be able to afford to drive back and forth to work. The current unemployment rate in LeFlore County has risen from 5.9% in Nov 08 to 6.6% in December 08 and continues to rise. ( http://www.oesc.state.ok.us/Research/News/2009/CountyRatesContinueToIncreaseInDecember.pdf ) For those who are still employed and haven’t had to go through a period of time without a job and had to live on unemployment or no income at all are probably not feeling it too much except maybe things are just a bit tighter ( damn! I can only eat at McDonalds instead of Red Lobster ). For those of us who have lost jobs or closed businesses are feeling the pain. Many have gone months without finding any type of work and most are willing to take anything they can get but there simply aren’t any jobs available. I know how hard it is to dig for change just to put enough gas in the car to make it to a job interview only to find hundreds of others in line with you. I was lucky enough to find work locally at Southern Star, Inc., which is one of the finest companies I have ever worked for. Even when both people in the household working it is still a struggle. You may have Health Insurance through your employer that you pay for every paycheck and then when you have to go to the doctor you still end up paying for more than is affordable…your bank account still feels the hurt.
I don’t know when things will get better for our City, County, State and Nation but I pray that it’s soon. I hate to see people suffer because some wall street billionaire and politician bastards decided their lives were more important than everyone elses. It’s time for all of them to be held accountable for their mis-use and it’s time for all of us to make sure they are!
Tags: Banking, Economy, Government, Hurt, People
Posted by Tony on Feb 10, 2009 in
Business,
Community,
Employment,
Food,
Politics Ok….We passed prop 3, and were promised an Appleby’s…where is it? I didn’t expect a building to pop up overnight, but I thought we would have at least heard something by now…a flyer, a groundbreaking, something! It really would be nice to have a few new places to eat….. Somebody let us know what’s going on (Mr. Mayor)
I also noticed that Long Johns is getting an interior makeover…..or comple interior removal……anybody know what’s going in? Is it Wendys (oh please let it be)
Tags: Economy, Growth, Jobs, Liquor By The Drink, Proposition 3
RANT TIME: WE ARE POTEAU! We are the county seat for LeFlore county. We have the largest population in the county. WHY then? Do we have a crappy gymnasium. Why do we not have a great facility for concerts and productions that is city owned? We should have one at least as nice as the CASC auditorium! Why do we not have artificial turf on our football field? Why do we have almost half as many kids going out for band, football and other extracurricular activities as other schools in our area (Greenwood for example)!? Why is it that our school looks like a piece of tinker toy crap that’s been pieced together over the last 80 years instead of buying more property in another location and building a nice high tech facility for education! We have had the money in the past and it’s been squandered. I am extremely disappointed in our school board over the last 30 years for allowing things to move in a downward spiral instead of moving up (I miss Ted being in there, he spoke his mind). The thing about change is that change is supposed to be good and cause growth. This place has either become stagnant or gone down! It’s time for the people of this community to STAND UP and say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! Get involved in meetings…..Create community groups…..heck just comment on discussions like this….believe me people read it…you would be surprised……Start with with your local school board and work your way up to the mayor…..they all have phone numbers and they all live here in town…..if you ruin their dinner when you see them out just to let them know how you feel, so be it…….that’s part of being in public office (that’s why I don’t run)!
Tags: Children, Community, Crime, Education
