We are all equall in the park.

Today was rather beautiful day weather wise for October 31st in Pittsburgh the temperature got to around 63 degrees. I usually eat with friends at lunch however today I decided to eat my lunch today in a park across the street from where I work.

I enjoyed myself some lo-mien from the local Chinese place Hong Kong Express, they make some of the absolute best food at low prices for the city. I ordered my food and made my way to an empty table where I started to eat.

Since I was by myself that gave me a lot of time to think about things going on in my life, my co-workers lives, and the lives of people living in this country. It is so rare that we get time to ourselves without the many out-side influences capturing and manipulating our every thought so this lunch was a very spiritual refreshing time where I could just be me and think and feel the thoughts that are in my heart.

I noticed in the park many different people from all walks of life. I saw some students from the Art Institute walk by, I noticed how happy some of them looked and it made me reflect back upon that time in my life when things were more care free and simpler.

I watched a young lady pushing a baby stroller through the park and she didn't even look left or right just straight ahead as though she was late for some appointment. How Ironic I guess that baby in that stroller not a care in the world, just lying there, sleeping, feeling at complete peace and the Mother taking on all the worry and the hustle and bussle of every day life.

I saw business men walking through the park dressed in suits. They pretty much kept a professional demeanor and appeared to be talking business. I wondered if they truly knew how to cope without being able to work on something.

So there I am taking all of these events in the entire time enjoying my Lo-Mein. It struck me in that instant that in the Park we are all equal. It didn’t matter how much or lack of money people had, the color of there skin, whether it was a man or a woman, Adult or Child in that moment we were all equal.

This thought made me smile in that moment because at the core of humanity is love. Like the mother who was walking in that park had love for her child, we should have love for others around us and accept people for whom they are not whom we want them to be. This put me in a really philosophical mood and by this time I had moved on to eating my hot n Sour Soup. Let me say Hot n Sour soup is my favorite soup of all time, I’m not quite sure of all the ingredients that go into making it (Nor am I sure I want to know) but I do know it makes me feel good.

Now that I’m feeling good I started thinking of the big day coming up next Tuesday, Election Day. It made me thing of everything going on around me, the back and forth bickering amongst the candidates, and the people who support those candidates, in that instant I just chuckled. What an extreme waste of time, energy, and money we spend to these candidates who have as much in common with the everyday folk as I have in common with a Martian.

Now I'm not going to say anything bad about either candidate but the Hyprocacy of there words and actions to what they are trying to tell us reminds me that things are not going to change much at all.

When I was leaving the park I saw a sign in the park on the bricks, it was a Confucius saying A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. It had me think in that moment. I concluded that the first step of the Journey should start in that park, recognizing that we are all equal, we all have feelings, we all have hopes, dreams, desires.

The first step I’m going to take on my journey is to attempt not to judge people so quickly, I know at our core we all want to love and be loved and that journey begins with but a single step, a step each of us must choose to walk on our own.

Obama Infomercial - Feed the children

I'm sure by now everyone is aware of the 30 minute infomericial that Obama ran on multiple networks and cable stations. In the year 2008 it appears it's not your record that counts when running for the office of the President but your bank account.

Obama spent over 2 million dollars for the ad campaing which at this point in the election I feel is overkill. Most people know who they are voting for by this point and that is a great amount of money to spend.

The fact that he is willing to spend 2 million dollars on this spot is a glimpse into how Obama will spend tax dollars in the future. He will have little regard to spend tax payers money even for something that will have marginal value.

To put the 2 million dollars into perspective this is what 2 million dollars can do for people across this country. According the WFP - https://secure.my-websites.org/supporter/donatenow.do?n=gbss&dfdbid=1044253It costs 15 dollars us to feed 10 children for a week.

With the 2 million dollars spent that could of fed 1.3 million children for a week if he would of donated that money to the WFP. That's a lot of needed support to some needy chilren around the world.

I guess thats politics as usual, I dont think this country needs politicians, Leaders wanted.

Chinese Democracy

Chinese Democracy

Just listened to the title track off of the much anticpated Guns n Rose's first CD release in 17 years Chinese Democracy

After listening to the song Chinese Democracy here is my rating of the song:

1. Guitar Play - A-, I really enjoyed the guitar and it had a rather catchy beat
2. Vocals - C, The vocals were not bad, but my opinion of the vocals may be a reflection of the Lyrics that I didn't like as much
3. Lyrics - Not sure what the Hell the song was even about

I am hoping that the lyrics on the rest of the tracks pick up and maintain the strong guitar play, if this is the case we may be
seeing a Guns n Rose revival across the country.

Because of the popularity of games such as Rock Band and Guitar Heroe kids are now more than ever interested in honest to God Rock n Roll.
It is my Hope that these old school rockers can have a revival and pump some much needed life into traditional Rock n Roll.

It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown

It's that time of year again,

Not Halloween, time for the Great Pumpkin to come back on TV.

This cartoon has not lost anything in the past 20 years. It still makes me feel as good as the first time that I have seen it. Here is a list of my timeless favorites

1. Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer
2. It's the gream pumpkin charlie brown
3. The Grinch
4. Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer and the search for the baby new year
5. Frosty the Snowman

These classics never go out of fashion, and for the 30 minutes that you watch them they remind you of a time gone by, when things were much simpler.

Here's hoping to get back to that simpler time again.

The Chronicles of Rich
The adventures of the everyday man

My name is Rich and these are my Chronicles. The adventures of the everyday man are my attempt to chronicle issues and events that occur in the lives of ordinary people.

Chronicle: Bus Ride: Inbound Morning Trip: Like many people across the country I utilize a Park N Ride where I drive my car to a parking lot, park my car, and take the bus that arrives at the lot. Taking the bus is a good thing for me because it helps save money, and allows me to catch an extra 20 to 30 minutes of sleep on the way to work. That sleep is very much needed and it makes me feel better not to drive to work half a sleep, probably a lot safer for myself and other people on the road that early.

High gas prices across the nation has resulted in my park and ride becoming completely filled, in contrast a little over a year ago this lot would typically only be 50% to 75% filled for the day .

I don’t work till 8:00 am but have to be at the park in ride at the latest by 6:30 am usually 6:00 am whereas in the past I could park in the lot at 7:10 with no problems.

The morning trip is mostly a blur but here are some things that I have noticed.

1. People do not make eye contact in the morning
2. Sleeping sitting up for 30 minutes causes your neck to hurt for the day
3. Light is your enemy
4. People who fall asleep then try to lean on you should be forced to stand
5. You will notice that you don’t have exact change at the last possible moment
6. Missing your stop because you over slept sucks.
7. People snoring and drooling on themselves is funny to witness, and reinforces the notion don’t fall asleep and be the one laughed at.

Outbound Afternoon Trip: The outbound afternoon trip is different than the morning trip

Things I notice at the line home: People will elbow you in the gut as folk’s line up to get in front of the line closest to the actual bus stop sign. I have noticed where people will actually lower themselves to the lowest commondenominator of society all for a front seat on the bus.

I often find that a bus seat is not worth it for me to be rude and inconsiderate. There are a group of ladies on my bus, who will give you the dirtiest looks if you sit in there “assigned” seats. I do believe that the one lady whom I nicknamed Francine Front Seat and I would have to estimate her age at around 60 years old is going to pull out a set of num chuck’s from her oversized Louie Vuitton hand bag and do some serious Bruce Lee damage to the first person who has the audacity to sit in her preferred seat with the extra leg room. It is this fear that has made to decided to sit further back in the less coveted area of the bus where the competition is non existent.

I do find it extremely funny though when the bus pulls up 10 feet further down than the bus stop as this puts those at the front of the line or closest to the bus stop to the back of the line now. Folks will grumble to themselves, and will also argue and yell at the bus driver for his error in judgment. I guess I find this Fnny as it a subtle reminder to myself you can prepare for things in life but sometimes even your best plans can be disrupted and it how you deal with it that says more about you than anything.

Things I notice on the the ride home:

1. Cell Phone Users - People using cell phones on the bus tend to annoy me, well at least the folks who have to speak with an elevated voice about things that transpired in there everyday life that I don’t find particularly interesting. Maybe if the people would speak about things I was interested in it wouldn’t be quite as annoying,Hmm this has me thinking since they are making their private lives public should I be allowed to comment on conversations they are having? I may try this the next time somebody decides to get too loud. It would be funny for them to tell me to mind my own business when they decided to place me square in the middle of it by holding such loud conversations.

2. Seat Hogs – The seat next to you is not paid for by your bag, laptop case or purse. This is just another lack of courtesy that is highly annoying.

3. No matter how quickly you get home its not quick enough Well that is my Bus Ride in a nutshell. A lot of it has me laugh and Just serves to remind me of the following principal “DON’T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF”