The Life and Times of Jim
Hi, there. I'm Jim. Welcome to my phlog!
This site was written for Las Vegas, then LouisVille. Now, it seems to be about anywhere. In these phlogs, you'll see a lot of my personal notes and pictures. I like to post my observations here to remember life and celebrate it. I'm not religious. I don't pray for good fortune. I'm ecstatically grateful for the gift of life and I think our time should be remembered and not taken for granted. I'm not a writer. I think pictures tell stories so much better than words. I love just about everything in this life, and, I guess that would have to include you. So, if you've seen me, don't be surprised if your picture is in here somewhere. Of all the critters, people are absolutely the most interesting. 
<< 02/2006 < 01/2007 Calendar 03/2007 > 02/2008 >>Sign InView Other Logs
Thu 
02/22/2007 17:50:28
 jim  Check out your childs school
Be it home school or private, check it out yourself.
Do not take the word of the school, or the word of a parent associated with that school.
Take the word of someone else, outside of the school. See if its real!!!
A diploma isn't worth anything if noone recognizes it.
The following happened to a friend recently.
We had started talking about home schools.
I mentioned how I got into Odysseys site under Becky's sons name. I did this to check on his progress, and to help him with one of his classes.
My friend mentioned he had gotten into his daughter's site using her account number (with no password).
That sounded fishy, so I asked for one of his statements.
The statement looked like it was done by a beginner in Microsoft Office Word.
He had been sending his $175 checks every month to a school call "The Learning Source".
- True, they are a business in Clark County.
- True, they will take your check.
- And True, they're credits transfer to nowhere.
In other words, his daughter, who should be in the 11th grade, has not started the 9th grade yet!
We went to the location listed on the business license...it was vacant.
We went to another location listed on the statement...it was a PO BOX.
The girl at the Post Office Box place, said a lady came in once a month to pick up her checks.
WOW!
What I'd like to say is, one of Becky's daughters attended a home school in Los Angeles, and she is still, technically a 9th grader, simply because, the school wasn't a school at all. It was business with no accreditation.
In other words, the chances for Becky's daughter to be successful, had been ruined early in life.
Don't waste your child's academic life!
Take 10 minutes out of your life to get a REAL reference from another school, about the school you want to enroll your child in. YOU MIGHT JUST BE SURPRISED!!!
As a note, when I went to CCSC in 1982
I found out credits from the community college would be cut in half if I had them transferred to UNLV.
However, if I transferred them to UCLA, and then to UNLV, they would not be cut.
Politics seems to be problem in the educational systems.
Wed 
02/21/2007 15:23:01
 jim  Vegas,NV-Becky
Wed 
02/21/2007 10:44:38
 jim  The Frontier is Going Away Forever
The New Frontier has been call a lot of names:

The Pair-O-Dice (1930), Ambassador Club (1936), 91 Club (1939), Last Frontier (1942), The New Frontier (1955), The Frontier (1967), The New Frontier (1999).

Sometime in July 2007, the Frontier will become The Lost Frontier.

The doors will close forever, and with them will go the last of the Howard Hughe's Casino icons.

Phil Ruffin, the Frontier's current owner, sold the New Frontier in May 2007 for $1.2 billion.

Please feel free to post your comments about the Frontier.
Tue 
02/20/2007 00:00:00
 Jim  Presidents Day
See if you get this day off.
Sun 
02/18/2007 12:19:37
 jim  Ode to the dying

Smile for me before you say goodbye. We were together for eleven years. We toured the land in a travel trailer. We shared memories no else will ever know. We saw the glistening waters of Lake Tahoe, and the frosty shores of Crater Lake. We collected agates off the big sur, saw seal cave and camped in San Diego. We explored California, Nevada, Utah and Oregon for almost four months. We bought a house in Summerlin with a heated pool and spa, and it had a spectular view Las Vegas. We knew Rob, Chris, Mom, Otis, John, Tex, Jim. We raised Little Girl, Little Man, Muffin and two chicks that fell from a tree. You were my soul mate, and now its your time to go. I'll always love you. As the sun light fades to darkness, know I'll be waiting with a smile on the other side. And I will always remember you well, Ruth (Cutlar), my Mississippi Queen.
I'm sorry you have to go.
Thu 
02/15/2007 21:50:45
 jim  Talked to an old friend today.
He was babbling on about Bush, Cheney, and the Tri-State commission.
According to him, Al Kaida has been at Camp David.
Also, the Tri-State commission is planning on blowing up nukes in 5 major cities with the next year.
The goal would be to call a Marshall Law in for a minimum of 6 months, bring in the international police, and kill over 80% of the US population.
The point would be to free the world from the ignorant, lazy and freeloading populations.
All I can say is...WOW!!!
I heard the same thing from a bum in Denver last year.
Now, if all this were the case, I suppose I would go to Florida, walk 10' off of the highway in any direction and get lost, then eat fruits, berries, and crocidile eggs. Of course, the World Police might gas the swamps, but at least I'd stand a chance. LOL.
All I know is, we Americans are obviously being lied to by the press. Why, well, I wouldn't even try to guess.
If we can't take over a country the size of Arizona, with billions of dollars and high technology in our favor, our military people suck. I know Bush's buddies made out to the tune of billions. AND THAT, I believe is treason.
And Clinton got impeached for a blow job, while Bush is a mass murderer for hire.
When I mentioned this to Sonny, he asked me,
Jim, doesn't this guy have any nice things to talk about....
hahahahah.
Wed 
02/14/2007 22:03:50
 jim  Not much going on here
My coding on the notary system looks complete. There's a lot of junk test in it though.
I've been burning the midnight oil, so to speak, getting everything for it all together for my first demo.
The flyer, the business cards and the the system itself looks great.
I put together (well, I kind of borrowed) an Independant Contractors agreement and modified it, early this morning.
Everything looks pretty darned good.
Also happening, the condo is rented.
The tenants are responsible people, who both work for an old folks home. They have a 17 year old daughter too.
Its nice to deal with people who have checking accounts, vehicles and credit cards!
Tue 
02/13/2007 19:00:00
 jim  Work for Nationwide Marketting
$200 for 2 hours. Participate in marketting analysis. The number is 733-0305. I talked to Joyce.
Its at 3709 Maryland Pkwy, 4th floor. 1 block north of Flamingo.
Fri 
02/09/2007 06:00:00
 jim  Ordered a fax line. (702-478-9876)
The number is 702-478-9876. Cox is coming between 10am and noon.
Wed 
02/07/2007 19:37:46
 jim  By the year 2100 AD
Man had learned how to transfer his thoughts from one brain to another. It was called soul transference.
By the year 2200,
Man had learned how to save his soul into non living things such as wafers, slices and crystals.
These souls could be revived into living entities at any given time. This was called soul preservation.
By the year 2250,
Man could communicate through time with connections to timenet.
Timenet worked by utilizing particles that traveled backward through time. Messages were sent to the future by storing the information for its destination in the future.
By the year 2300,
Thanks to miniaturization, man could keep store as many as 30,000,000 souls on an object the size of a pin head. The souls were aware, and could communicate through the evernet. Evernet, in combination with Timenet provided man with his destiny in this universe...to be conscious of entire the universe.
Time travel backward though time was not possible.
Since matter can not be created or destroyed, transportation back into time was not possible without changing the content of the whole universe. Time travel forward was only possible through deanimation and reanimation.
Man's last conquest was to populate the universe with his consciousness.
He did this, through a mobile device called DNA. With this device, he could seed the universe, communicate with it through the Evernet. He could possibly prevent the inevitable collapse of all the matter in the universe.
At the very least, something might be saved between the Big Bangs.
A trillion years in the future
To what man had evolved into, even a trillion years didn't seem long. Time would be coming to an end soon. Even with man's DNA spread throughout the cosmos, nothing would survive into the next universe. The smallest particles known to exist provided the hope man needed. These particles were indestructable. They were called Herculons. Their position in the universe couldn't be moved, but they could be altered. They would survive the Big Bang. Prior to the universe's collapse, tiny messages were stored in the Herculons. It was a blue print of sorts...
Ah, I'm tired of writing...haha.
Wed 
02/07/2007 19:32:34
 jim  Our previous Loan Signing Agent was Autumn Dorsher
Autumn Dorscher owns Nationwide Signers.
Kathy from Home Lending called and gave me the info.
She said she'd check out my website.
Granted, my website isn't geared for Loan Signings yet, but it will be.
Wed 
02/07/2007 08:30:02
 Jim  GMa needs to be in court, in Phoenix
I think it'll be at 8:30am.
Wed 
02/07/2007 02:00:40
 jim  We’re open for business world!
I got a laser printer today.
- Its an Okidata and its perfect.
- It should get 6,000 sheets of print out for each $60 cartridge. Thats 1c a sheet...pretty nice.
- It also prints HiRes Color...Okidata's are the best printer (I've alway thought). They're work horses.
- The links are restored for Be Quick. After I order an extra phone tommorrow (702) 456-5288,
   then we'll be set for marketting.
I found out that XP's fax facilities will accept a fax in and will optionally, forward it for immediate print
That's what we want, unattnended incoming fax orders. We'll handle fax outs with our HP multi function.
Mon 
02/05/2007 23:32:46
 jim  From me to me, ha ha.
I know, it may not seem like much, but my notary system is done.
Sonny and I worked up a decision table for the binary logic of courier/fax/notary selections.
EG: If someone wants to pay us for receiving a fax, and faxing it out, its cool.
There were 256 possible combinations in the decision table.
I love those things.
I suppose its old faded technology, but any consequence can be determined with them.
Excel worked nicely as my tool.
Now that faxes are coded up, and Becky is familiar with the system, we're almost ready to rock and roll.
Emails are coming in already from people wanting to hooking on to my wagon. Its cool.
We've got so many things to do:
- Rent the condo,
- Order a fax line
- Buy an all-in-one color fax
- Distribute flyers.
- Do lunch with Brian Grady and some other people.
- Do corporate stuff, yuck!
I'm getting so burned out from everything. I've spent 1 month desigining the database, and programs for this system.
17 hours yesterday alone. God I hope it takes off.
If anyone want to take a peek, go to http: //www.lvdude.com/notary_welcome.asp . It works, but I disabled the main shortcut to it (www.lvdude.com/notary) to cut back inquisitors.
Sun 
02/04/2007 18:41:53
 jim  Check out this new utility
You'll like it. Zip Code Utility. Its in Info/Zip Codes
It shows:
- All the counties in a state.
- All the cities in a state
- All the cities in a county.
- All the zip codes for a city
- List zip codes in order.
- Will show a map for any it displays.
I wrote it in 4 hours. Pretty cool, huh?
I need to pick up a laser multi-function printer, if anyone has any suggestions.
I added faxing to my little system.
It should make in $0.75 a sheet, in or out.
Fri 
02/02/2007 00:00:00
 Jim  Ground Hog Day
Don't take a day off though.
Thu 
02/01/2007 20:17:01
 jim  Aint it good to be alive!
I love the attitude that every moment spent regretting life, is a waste of life.
Me, I've been alive 26,876,556 minutes, and I've pretty much enjoyed it all!
Rob still lives in my heart, and his daughters wedding seems like yesterday.
As I grow older, time seems more and more like an illusion.
I love the way the skin on my hands are scaling.
I love how Becky's eyes are growing old with mine.
I think this is all magic.
I'm so glad to be alive!!!
I hope you are too.
Wed 
01/31/2007 23:29:30
 jim  I think I’m done with the Notary system.
Well, I have to write a couple of puny programs, and test a little bit, but now I'm down to hours of coding.
The next step will be the funnest part...using it, putting it together and selling the service.
Its nice to know my skills have improved over the years.
Becky and I have to get dolled up for smoozing customers. 
I can finally order a fax line and get a dual tray laser printer, then we can make up flyer's and brochures.
It should be a BLAST!!!
And if this system holds up well, we're going to doing Notary Conventions.
I never really, really wanted to actually do notaries. I wanted to develop a transactional system, and I did.
It took 1 month to develop. YEA!
Thursday (tomorrow), we have to get the condo rented good to go.
That means picking up some blank contracts, and getting organized for renting. It should be very easy this time.
We're less lost.
Tue 
01/30/2007 22:26:56
 jim  I was watching House tonight
Gosh, I love that show!
House (an atheistic doctor), was trying desperately to help a rape victim who was looking for truth.
They were haggling about life. She wanted truth from House, he said the truth was uninteresting.
She said she believed that there is a god that values and cares about all life.
House said, if there is a god, he's either extremely cruel or insane.
Did he let her get raped to make some kind of sick point? Or does he just want to punish the bad guys in a burning hell while letting innocent people suffer. If thats his game, its insane.
She said, it wasn't like that. Its more like we enter a series of rooms going through life. Our value is based on how well we handle ourselves in those rooms. She asked him if he believed in god.
He said, if there isn't a god, what we do here has no consequences to our eternity. Therefore, there's nothing to keep us from doing evil. We should just have fun and not care about anyone but ourselves.
But if there is a god, then we should suffer here to earn brownie points in some kind of fictitious heaven.
He said, the concept of god is just that, us trying create a central point in the universe that has all of the reasons.
There is no reason for why things happen.
But what we do today matters, and will have an immense affect others down the line.
I like that show. It makes me think.
Tue 
01/30/2007 22:03:54
 jim  Ate at Red Rock Station tonight
Its was Gma's birthday. The Italian restaurant we went to was pretty special. Paul reserved a private room for the seven of us (Paul, Gma, Dustin, Jennifer, Sonny, Becky, and me).
We had shrimp scampi (3 shrimp), and calamari fritti for the appetizer.
- I had osso bucco, because I'd heard of it, but forgot what it was.
- Sonny had sea bass *****
- Becky had Chicken Parmesian. ****
- This kids split a pizza **
- Paul had a seafood medley *****
- Gma had veal marsala ?????
The reason why I didn't rate my osso bucco is that I was raised on osso bucco!
Its basically roast beef with gavy on rice. Whoops on me.
The service was wonderful, the atmosphere was great, and we had fun. Plus we survived the trip to get there along I515.
The price was high, but, for a once in a year event, it was worth it.
Sat 
01/27/2007 11:55:22
 jim  Sonny told me about a message popping up on his ce
I forget sometimes that people do pop on LVDude. This is usually a very lonely site.
Well, someone popped in, checked out the Notary system and entered a transaction.
The system does work in the real world. It will take credit cards, and it does page people on their cell phones.
Its not quite there yet. I behaves poorly. Cox internet has been quirky, and I haven't been able to update it anything lately.
Anyway, I have Sonny in the system as a mythical agent in Ely, NV.
I used his cell phone to test Sprint's messaging.
The notary system finds the agent closest to order (which was, I think, in Michigan), and Sonny got a page. LOL.
I was laughing so hard after I figured it out.
The system still has some minor bugs in it, one of being that if someone did create a credit card order right now, we wouldn't know it.
Thu 
01/25/2007 23:06:47
 Jim  I got my first call today for a notary.
Unfortunately, I wasn't ready for it. I was really surprised they even had my cell phone number. I was listed on SigningAgent.com as a certified notary on December 21st, after completing my certification test.
Anyway, I was so surprised. I thought it was another loan company calling my cell phone for a home refinance.
I didn't have a canned response for the loan company, so I apologized. Then I asked if the loan was something they could walk me through, since I'm new (I was honest). They said it was a piggy-back loan, and it was rougher than most. hmm.
We will be using Becky's number out for Notaries, not mine. Oopsee.
Wed 
01/24/2007 16:00:07
 jim  Some Mormons stopped by
As usual, I had to argue with them. I don't know why I waste my time with these people. Some 18 year olds with a Mormon bible or whatever they call it, came by preaching the word, or whatever they call it. LOL.
I told them as long as they believe in doing good, feeding the hungry, help the elderly, improving the quality of life, their on the right track, but I didn't believe in their religion.
Their ideas seem pretty weird too me. But then again, most all religions I've learned about seem weird.
They were rambling on about how you must be Baptized before you die so your spirit doesn't go to hell and yada yada.
I said, spirit! What is a spirit? They said its that part of you that goes on after you die.
I asked them, is there proof that something like that exists? They said they could feel it.
I asked why do you think it exists? Can you measure it? No, but the bible says it exists.
I asked them if they believe everything they hear, like do they really believe Joseph Smith had a vision? And why?
Its all so bizarre.
I can't get over, how the idea of a spirit evolved in the first place.
And how it must have evolved from ideas to full blown religions.
And then religions evolved further to tell all kinds of unbelievable stories.
And how people just believe these stories, without question.
There is no proof that spirits exist.
Some say they see them. Some say they feel them. Some say they hear them. Some say they speak for them.
Am I wrong for thinking these people are delusional?
I see miracles everywhere, that  I can see, touch, and measure Why can't these people see them too?
Wed 
01/24/2007 09:52:11
 jim  I got the code for text messaging working
Its really picky code to master, after all, who wants spam in their cell phone's text messages.
Here's how it works right now.
- You logon into the notary system.
- You place your order
- You select cash for payment type.
- The system locates the closest agent, and sends him text messages about the order on their cell phone.
- A log entry is made to the administrator of the notary system.
- The agent replies to the cell message when each task is completed.
Pretty cool, huh?
The last enhancements will be:
- Add text messaging for credit card payments.
- Add transaction screens for sales people
- Add transaction screens for notary agents.
Wed 
01/24/2007 09:41:05
 jim  Finished up the condo yesterday.
All except for the final clean up. Becky cleaned and  painted. I painted. Sonny cleaned up the garage.
Sonny actually did most of the work this time. Cheers to Sonny...YEAH!!!!
This time, we'll charge a $50 refundable application fee and we will check references.
No more cash deals. Its too much effort.
I called a real estate agent about the houses across the street.
The 1,600 square foot houses cost $310,000 ($193 a square foot)
The 1,800 square foot houses cost $352,000 ($194 a square foot)
So the condo should be worth over $120,000.
Sat 
01/20/2007 21:40:14
 jim  Week End at Jimmys
Thursday day, Becky and I worked on the condo (finally). The holes were patched, the front door was painted. The fridge was cleaned. The stove was cleaned. Our tenants were complete slobs. 
I sliced my finger open, and bled in the paint, darn it! But all thats left to do some touch up painting.
Thursday night, Sharon, Michelle, Mandy and Mirrissa came over. They didn't leave until after 2am.
Friday night, Dustin and Jennifer stayed over. We were up late again. I kept cracking up at them. They say the oddest things. A girl in some movie was standing on a hill all saddened by her loss and Dustin said, "Is she going to jump?". I said, "Yea, she's going to roll down the hill to her horrible death"...and I just couldn't stop laughing. It was the thought of a girl in a beautiful dress doing something that stupid just cracked me up to pieces.
Today, we lazed around, playing Family Feud and watching tube. 
Question 1 - "Other names you call small children"...Dustin's answer, "Virgins". My answer "midgets".
Question 2 - "Other names for horses"...Dustins answer, "Jalopy","Sam","Duke". My answer "Equestian".
Question 3 - "Name things that shrink after using them"...My answer...well, I couldn't say it, its dirty.
Its a strange, but leisurely life.

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