Capital is only loyal to Capital

Folks work all their lives, 30 maybe 40+ years at the same company and you'd think they would be well set once they retire, but when you really look at it they have no value in their retirement accounts or not enough to retire with. Then you factor in lay-offs, and check this out: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/20/business/20tax.html
That story there talks about Apple, Google and Microsoft, but then also speaks about million and billion dollar companies like Merck, Pfizer and Hewlett-Packard so just imagine how many other corporations are doing it. Between only the first three companies mentioned here there is a total of $58 billion in vast profits outside the country and they are pressing Congress and the Obama administration for a tax break to bring the money home. Isn't it the law? If you do business in the United States you should pay the taxes in the U.S., but those clever accountants have found ways to significantly reduce the taxes corporations pay the government because the company in turn has to turn profits for their share holders. That's why accountants and executives get paid the big dollars. Capital taking care of Capital. Can't really blame them. Now if everyone was playing fair, but only a few went rogue then we could easily discipline those that have been misguided, but it's like EVERYONE is doing it! That's partly responsible for the economic downturn we're in.
Now the mentality of the people turns from working in their lives to working in order to survive and it shouldn't be that way. The capitalistic world will dominate life and living will be made impossible without being a part of the fabric of that society. I tried to get myself that corporate job that respected tenure where I could work and build a life around. I invested my time in Anheuser-Busch. Two years later they get bought out for an amount if $52 billion in cash I believe. Ridiculous, but if I had 1000 shares I would have also voted to sell I guess. It just seems that the folks who have "capital" and that sort of weight to throw around do so without a care of the sweat, blood and tears that are being spilled just to feed hungry mouths. I rather not get my eggs mixed up in that bag. I'll spread them around else where. I may not get the ROI in terms of capital, but I have learned in the last month that If I continue to focus on what I Love and have a passion for then I will progress, and live a Happy, Healthy, Successful Life!

Everybody dies, but not everybody lives! 

So...

Do what you LOVE EVERYDAY, EXCEL and let's LIVE and LOVE LIFE!

The Insurance Battle with WarrantyDirect.com...

This really Sucks the life out of you! My wife had paid almost $3500 that she had gotten back from her tax return to protect the car she loves. It was supposed to be a 3 year extended warranty on top of the current Jaguar warranty that was about to expire. The highest option offered by WarrantyDirect.com since as she put it she wanted , "Everything possible covered". It was a stick-shift/manual 2004 Jaguar X-Type 2.5 in White of course. Those were two main qualities in a car for my lady...it must be White and have a Manual transmission. I don't know about you all, but for me it is a turn-on to see a woman handle a manual transmission vehicle a whip it around like a pro. That takes skills and it's rare because from my experience the majority of women I've seen driving are more afraid of the machine and power vs  understanding the machine and knowledgeably trying to manipulate it.
Well, back to the story at-hand. A couple of years in we're driving the Jaguar to San Francisco to work from Foster City. I'm driving and remember paying attention to the RPMs that morning. The vehicle did seem a bit "cold". Experienced drivers know more or less when you drive a vehicle enough that it needs a tune-up. I had been driving my Civic most of the time so it wasn't obvious to me right away. After driving about 12 miles north on 101 we hear some weird noises from the front passenger side of the car and the Oil light turns on as well. At this point we continued slowly keeping RPMs under 3000 for the rest of our 14 miles or so to work. The car was then taken to the Jaguar dealership that morning before work in San Francisco ultimately to find out later that there were, "metal particles in the oil that was drained". A cause of some over heating I suppose since it was never explained to either one of us. What they said was that there was no oil in the vehicle and practically went dry. The interesting part was that we parked the Jaguar in our same parking spot every day and there was no recent oil drips and the car was not yet due for it's oil change. We hardly put miles on the car. To this day it has about 56k miles and man she still loves her car and I do as well.
The Jaguar dealership sends its report to the insurance company, which turns around and sends us a letter saying the damage is a cause of neglect and the claim was being denied. Our complaint was that we never had any reason to think there was a problem. We had gotten the regular oil changes at their designated mileage and directly from the Jaguar dealership. We never noticed any issues and when we did notice something we immediately drove it to the dealership to get checked out. DENIED! Now we have a vehicle sitting at the Jaguar dealership with our name on it, they're asking us what we are going to do with it because they can not keep it there. A new engine was about a $10k job, we still owed $7500 worth of payments, my Wife is 7 months pregnant at this stage too. JAJA. What a time we have experienced and surpassed. Well, I felt like if they weren't going to help us then return the $3500 paid for the worthless insurance. After some pressure and writing several letters to WarrantyDirects parent insurance company, then one to the National Association of Insurance companies. We did find some very helpful folks whom helped us finally get an approval to our claim and they got a used engine from the same type of vehicle and everything almost the identical amount of mileage then. The Jaguar dealership finished the job of putting the new engine in. i don't want to get into the efforts put in from the folks at the Jaguar dealership. Maybe they're just really busy and that's another story. I'm so glad this whole thing worked out. We were in a a critical time in our lives with the babies coming and potentially losing out on the car and having to continue making payments...imagine that. It was quite the upgrade from the ZelRydr (White Acura Integra Manual Transmission). We had fun in that car! I'll post the pictures soon. ZelRydr from beginning to end. I think you can still find pieces by Oakland Coliseum out there.
Lesson of the story. Get your extended warranty directly through the dealership. It's worth it or you'll be fighting it out with those whom you've been paying to supposedly be on your side.

BBQ Beef Ribs with Moro de Maiz and Blue-Strawberry Salad

MMM...BBQ! We're lucky enough to have a Nice big brand new butane grill courtesy of our apartment management, but I just like the charcoal, mesquite, smokey taste. Anyhow, just added this 21 season salute seasoning we got from Trader Joe's, added some salt and BBQing slowly with the charcoals to one side and a pan of water underneath the Beef Ribs to keep them moist. BBQ'ed for an hour now...The rice is a mixture taken from what my mother taught me, which was how to make Moro with rice. That's when you make your rice with beans, corn or another flavoring married/Casado to the rice. After moving to the West Coast I heard a Salvadorian lady call Moro, Casado. It makes sense. I Love it. The kids love it as well. Specially Moro with our favorite Green Pigeon Peas aka Guandules Verdes that can only be found at Whole Foods here in California or when my mother sends us cans from the East coast. We still have about 8-9 cans left from her last visit. Gotta Love it! a mother's Love is like no other. Back to my other Love...BBQ food. I'm writing all of this as I'm waiting for another hour to pass for a total of two hours slow BBQing Beef Ribs. Made ourselves a nice salad while we waited. baby Spinach/Spring Mix with Strawberries, Bluberries and a Strawberry vinaigrette dressing.