What does it cost to be a Prison Guard? - Beyond the Law

Prison guard, correctional officer. What does it really take to do a job like that? What is it like to do that job year after year? I got an e-mail from my brother's best friend. He read "Beyond the Law", enjoyed it and was kind enough to say so. What I think he particularly enjoyed was that I had used one of his stories to illustrate what it is like to be around convicts year after year. For years, this man was a correctional officer at San Quentin. This is just me, but I think he also got some value just from the brief discussion in the novel of the toll such work takes upon the men and women who are correctional officers. Not everyone in prison is a nice person. Not all of them are entirely sane. There is actual physical danger. As the years mount up, there is a price to be paid. There is physical wear and tear. There is the impact on the families. Not an easy job.

Running out of Runway: Thoughts on Income for Seniors

Thoughts on Income for Seniors


Warning: Some of this is about my work. Some of this is about people I know. Some of this is about things I have read about the spreading poverty among Seniors.  All of it is my opinion only.



In my first novel, Brand Loyalty, the heroine is middle aged, a home maker, and a woman who had been out of the workforce for 12 years.  I put together what I thought was a plausible path for this woman to start, run, and profit from her own business.  It was a bit of a stretch, but for fiction, I thought it was good information and well within the realm of the plausible.

For people, seniors or not, who are looking for traditional work, I recommend a book called What Color is Your Parachute.  I haven't gone looking for it lately, but I believe it to be one of the very, very best works on looking for a job.  Remember, looking for a job IS a job.

I recently had a conversation with a someone in her seventies.  Her sole income is Social Security and it is a modest amount.  For many people like my friend, 9 to 5 is not an option.  As we get older, bearing up under the grind of 40 hours a week plus commute doesn't serve.

If you are a senior and you can handle the wear and tear, and a regular job is what you want, then congratulations.  You are a stud (studdette?) and may Fortune bless you.

But what if you are not this creature of iron?  What options are there?

Well, what has worked for you in the past?  In your life, what were some of your big paydays?  What were you doing?  Where did you do it?  Who ( or what kind of people ) did you work with?

This woman I met with could do 3 things brilliantly.

1) She could sell, really sell.  And she could always find people to buy.  She even likes to cold call but hates to punch a clock.

2) She could organize events for other people who were selling their skills or wares.  Some of those paydays were as much as $8,000.

3) She has worked as a metaphysical healer and profited from it.

So, what was the problem?  She is a seeker and always has been.  In seeking the next thing, she has walked away from the things she was doing.  My advice to her?  "If you created your payday in the past and if you are still physically able to do it, maybe you should go back to the well and do it again."


So, what does this suggest for a senior in today's economy?

Perhaps it is time to reflect on yesterday's successes.

Did you love to garden?  Do you remember bringing in bumper crops that you could can for yourself or barter with others?

Do you have a skill others want to learn?

Did you make thinks people love?  Duck decoys, fishing lures?

Think back on your victories, your successes, your joys.  Think of the ones that came with a windfall.

If you had skills or created value in the past, even if you can't build a house or a microwave tower today, some of those skills can still bring you a payday.

Try and relax.  Don't beat yourself up over the past. Relive your victories.  Good luck and God bless.

China and the real Golden Rule

http://www.silverdoctors.com/the-ultimate-infographic-on-chinese-gold-demand/



This stuff interests me. Note that "Price Discovery" means the process of figuring out what a thing is worth. London and New York print pieces of paper, call them silver or gold, and manipulate the price with these documents. Neither financial center has anywhere near enough metal to cover these pieces of paper.

China only acknowleges ownership of 1,000 metric tons of gold. The real number is almost certainly over 4,000 metric tons.

Eventually, people are going to get a rude reminder about the real Golden Rule.

"The guy with the gold makes the rules."

Matt Rommel - Beyond the Law: A "Cult Classic" on Amazon.es (Spanish)

Matt Rommel, Cult Classic

http://www.amazon.es/best-of-cult-fiction/s?ie=UTF8&keywords=Best+Of+Cult+Fiction&page=1&rh=n:599367031,k:Best+Of+Cult+Fiction

Amazon.es lists the new Matt Rommel adventure as a "Cult Classic in a foreign language.  Me Gusta.

Germany's Bundesbank gives away gold!

Germany's Bundesbank gives away gold!

Shame on me for the hyperbole, but the fact is that the "Buba" (Bundesbank) looks like it is going to give up on trying to get it's gold back from the Federal Reserve of the United States.

This bit from Silverdoctors.com:

"However, it appears the Buba has folded from pressure from the Fed after a mere 5 tons of Germany’s gold reserves were delivered in 2013 as the Handelsblatt reports: ”The Bundesbank no longer feels bound to the concrete repatriation commitment time table they now admit for the first time.”


Here's a few things you need to know:

1) To protect Germany's gold supply from a possible Russian invasion, the German nation's gold was moved to France, England, and the United States.

2) Over the years, it has become increasingly difficult for the German government to get its hands on, or verify deposits, or even visit the gold in New York.

3) Germany has demanded the return of a small portion of its gold deposits.  In 2013, the Federal Reserve returned only 5 metric tons.  That is only one pallet's worth and it took them a year. (a metric ton of pure gold is a cube of 15 inches.  5 fifteen-inch cubes can fit on a single pallet.

One would think that Germany would insist on better performance.  In America, there are many stereotypes regarding the german character.  Being bashful is not among them.

So why does the Bundesbank not demand delivery?  Why does the German government not express its displeasure?

One possible explanation: The gold is already gone, sold into the marketplace to prop up the US dollar.

Perhaps the Bundesbank is concerned about precipitating a panic.

Still, if you lend something and then never get it back, that is either a gift or it is theft.

Leonard Nimoy has COPD

http://blog.sfgate.com/dailydish/2014/02/06/leonard-nimoy-i-have-lung-disease/

He seems to be coping and he continues to work.

L. L. A. P.

Also, "Rock, Paper, Lizzard, Spock".

Gunny for Miss Congeniality?

Gunny for Miss Congeniality?

Spotted by an eagle-eyed reader on the campus of Irvine Valley College and forewarded to me.  I'm thinking that it's a different Matt Rommel, but you never know.

Gunny for Miss Congeniality?