August 12, 2008 by gpstevens.

Sometimes each one of us has to dig down deep within to find that often un-tapped energy that gives us a power greater than ourselves. In the Shinobi world that force is called “Chakra”.

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June 30, 2007 by gpstevens.

It’s amazing what the media does not want you to know. Well it apperas that the governor of ohio has appealed the ruling on the private club exemption to the smoking ban. Read on.

5.25.07 - Columbus, Ohio – Ohio Governor Ted Strickland today asked Attorney General Marc Dann to appeal the Franklin County common pleas court ruling on the private club exemption in the state’s new smoking ban law.

“I believe we established a reasonable rule that enforces the smoking ban while also honoring the exemption established in the law for certain private clubs including veteran’s clubs,” Strickland said. “I am troubled that many citizens, including many veterans, voted for the smoking ban last fall with the understanding that it included an exception for private clubs, only to be told later that the ban doesn’t include a real exception. In order to make sure that these citizens have every opportunity to have their point of view considered, I have decided to appeal the court’s ruling.”

The governor consulted with the Department of Health and the Attorney General’s office to reach his decision.

Source: Ohio Governor

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May 23, 2007 by gpstevens.

As a friendly reminder to my readers and friends, please do not click on, or respond to emails from websites threatening that you need to update your account information on ANY website that needs to know your personal information and or passwords or credit card info. Thos sites are almost 100% false. Delete them! Dont even click on the link. Don’t answer any phone call that wants any personal info from you regarding any personal info about an online account that you may have created. Always keep in mind that there are people out there that have nothing better to do but steal from you and they can in fact wipe you out financially. Always be suspicious, protect yourself, and remember if it sounds to good to be true it probably is too good to be true. Consider yourself warned. If you have any questions feel free to contact me via email at gpstevens@gmail.com.

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May 3, 2007 by gpstevens.

Many times when I work on peoples’ computer I notice that alot of people have installed the yahoo toolbar. Unfortunately the Yahoo tollbar adds a whole lot more to your computer than you probably want to know. I’m not going to go into a long dissertation about it but I found an article you might find interesting, and if I were you. Uninstall the Yahoo toolbar immediately.

Send this to all of your friends.

Yahoo playing both sides!!

Mike Healan
June 2, 2004

As many of you no doubt have heard, Yahoo! recently released a new toolbar which they claim detects and removes spyware. The toolbar uses technology licensed from Pest Patrol, the vendor of a popular antispyware product.

Unfortunately, it turns out that Yahoo! has decided to set the toolbar to ignore all so-called “adware”. The toolbar forces the user specifically to set it to seek out adware.

Click for full screenshot

The reason for this decision appears to be the business relationship between Overture, which is owned entirely by Yahoo!, and the Claria corporation, which creates and distributes Gator. As it turns out, Yahoo!, through Overture, provides 31% of Claria’s entire annual revenue.

A Yahoo! spokesperson tried to deflect the issue by stating that they use Pest Patrol’s antispyware technology, which itself makes a distinction between “adware” and “spyware”. However, Pest Patrol’s software does not ignore “adware” either by default or as an option. This change was made entirely by Yahoo!

The spokesperson also tried to portray the decision as one giving choice to the user. In fact, the user has the choice already when they see the results list. The user can choose which software to remove and which to leave alone. Unless, of course, they forget to check the box for adware and then they end up with no choice at all, in the matter of adware.

Yahoo! is playing both sides of the issue, with users caught in the middle. Yahoo! could legitimize the activities of such companies as Claria, WhenU.com, Lop.com and coolwebsearch.com. These are all companies who spend significant effort trying to portray their software as “adware”. In fact, the practices of all of these companies have come into question numerous times. In Utah, for instance, Gator and WhenU.com’s advertising and installation practices are illegal.

This is an unfortunate situation. Yahoo! needs to decide whose side they are on, their users or the parasites. I would encourage all users of this toolbar to express their opinion to Yahoo!. This is a beta test after all and they are soliciting opinions from their users. I say we should take them up on that offer.

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April 20, 2007 by gpstevens.

I’m sure many of you have seen the commercials on TV about a free credit report. Freecreditreport.com is a scam. It aint free. But the federal government is obligated to give you a free credit report once every year. The following is from about.com, and it’s legitimate. Don’t get scammed. 

Government Mandates Free Credit Reports for

All Consumers

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April 17, 2007 by gpstevens.

In light of the recent massacre at Virginia Tech University I wanted to send out my thoughts and prayers for the victims and their family and friends. It seems that day after day and year after year we hear about these things or read about them in the paper and it’s almost trivia. Hey did you hear about this or did you read about that? Whats the new scoop on Anna Nicole or what about this scandal or that, and somehow it all gets lumped into this big wad we call “The News.” It’s just another story, a picture in the paper, something to talk about over dinner or a beer at the bar or club. Water cooler talk I think they call it now. Just something to talk about with strangers when you don’t really want to talk to that person at all. How cold we have become.

Do we really feel their pain? Do we really feel the tragedy in our hearts? Do we really stop to think that on one Monday morning and afternoon literally thousands of lives have been changed as the result of one lone killers actions? As of now we have 33 people dead including the shooter, over 20 people wounded. Right now as it stands we have at least 50 people shot. Now how many wives, husbands, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, friends and various other relatives have been affected? Just using simple math that translates into the thousands.

I guess all I want to say is this.

None of us ever really know when the s**t is gonna hit the fan. In America we seem to take life and liberty and freedom so for granted. Then one day everything we loved so much is gone, sometimes it’s gone within minutes if not seconds. Yesterday a bunch of college kids went to class. In a couple of days they will be lowering alot of kids into the ground. They will never come home again. The school year for them is over. They will never get that dream job. They will never be what they wanted to be. They will never see mom and dad again. And mom and dad will have to live with the memory of seeing their child not outlive them.

What can we do about this? Not much. The best we can do is love our friends, treat them with respect. Love our children and our family and never let a day go buy without doing something or saying something that lets them know we love them. “Love thy neighbor as you love thyself” Jesus said. The country is in pain tonight and eventually the wounds will heal over time but let us not dismiss the pain of today. Today we were wounded but not killed, we will live on to fight another day, but in the meantime let’s pause and think and remember that sometimes when a loved one walks out the door to do what we consider their everyday routine, we may never see them again. Every good-bye could be our last.

May God bless and comfort those victims of the Virginia Tech Massacre and to all my friends, family, and everyone else, I love you.

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March 28, 2007 by gpstevens.

OHIO DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
Proposal would ease smoke ban
Clubs whose workers are members may be exempt
WHAT HAPPENED?
• The Ohio Department of
Health proposed revised rules
that would exempt clubs whose
employees are members from
Ohio’s public smoking ban.

• The move marks a turnaround for the health department, whose attorney previously stated such an exemption would be inconsistent with the voter-approved law.

• If the Joint Committee on
Agency Rule Review does not
interfere, the smoking-ban rules
could take effect in late April.
 
 

By JIM PROVANCE
BLADE COLUMBUS BUREAU
COLUMBUS — Private clubs whose employees are also members may have won a reprieve from the state’s new ban on smoking in public places.

The Ohio Department of Health yesterday proposed revised rules that, if accepted by a legislative review panel, would carve out the exemption such clubs have sought since the day voters approved the law on Nov. 7.

The move has clubs such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars rejoicing but has placed health organizations like the American Cancer Society in an unlikely alliance with bars, restaurants, and bowling alleys that consider the clubs as their competition.

“I can now see some of these organizations changing their membership requirements to allow servers, who are not currently eligible, to become members,” said David Corey, lobbyist for the Bowling Centers Association of Ohio. “The Moose, Elks, Eagles, and all of those. Look out, Nellie!”

The move was an abrupt turnaround for the department, whose attorney previously stated such an exemption would be inconsistent with the voter-approved law. In fact, the department proposed something similar in an early draft but then removed it.

“Private club representatives have consistently asked ODH to fashion rules that reflect the exemption they believed they had under the law passed in November,” said the department’s acting director, Anne R. Harnish. “Changes made after a thorough review by our lawyers allow us to do that.”

Gov. Ted Strickland “consulted” with the health department on the change and supports the language, said spokesman Keith Dailey.

“He believes this is a reasonable rule that enforces the ban and also honors the exemption established in the law for certain private clubs, including veterans’ clubs,” he said.

The text of the law approved on Nov. 7 provides for an exemption for private clubs as long as “the club has no employees; the club is organized as a not-for-profit entity; only members of the club are present in the club’s building; no persons under the age of 18 are present in the club’s building; the club is located in a free-standing structure occupied solely by the club; smoke from the club does not migrate into an enclosed area where smoking is prohibited under the provisions of this chapter, and, if the club serves alcohol, it holds a valid D4 liquor permit [for non-profits].”

The law defines “employee” as “a person who is employed by an employer, or who contracts with an employer or third person to perform services for an employer, or who otherwise performs services for an employer for compensation or no compensation.”

The revised rules, however, added a provision stating that private club members are not considered “employees.” A department press release accompanying the new rules states this would be true regardless of whether the member is paid.

Staff of the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review, a bipartisan committee consisting of House and Senate members, opened the door to changes when it questioned the first set of rules.

“It’s a matter of economics for us,” said Bill Seagraves, commander of the Ohio Department of Veterans of Foreign Wars. “We can’t afford to lose business. We have to struggle now with maintaining our membership.”

He said he interprets the proposed new exemption as allowing qualifying clubs to go nonsmoking part of the time when events are held with the general public present while allowing smoking when the public isn’t there.

“The purpose behind Issue 5 was to protect all workers in every public workplace in Ohio,” said Tracy Sabetta, spokesman for the cancer society. “If a private club has employees, all businesses should be on a level playing field. They all must be covered.”

Jacob Evans, lobbyist for the Ohio Licensed Beverage Association, said the exemption adds to the list of objections bars and restaurants have raised to the ban since they failed to defeat it at the polls.

“Creating an exemption for private clubs that compete directly with private businesses gives them a leg up,” he said. “That is very much a concern.”

The rules are subject to a hearing before the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review on April 16. If that panel does not interfere, they could take effect as early as April 30.

The law went into effect on Dec. 7, but enforcement has been placed on hold under court agreement while the rules filling gaps in the law are completed. Many have complied with what has so far been a toothless law, but others have ignored it, knowing no fines could be imposed during this period.

The department also proposed another change in the rules to state that an anonymous complaint alone could not justify a finding that a violation indeed occurred.

Contact Jim Provance at: jprovance@theblade.com or 614-221-0496

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March 20, 2007 by gpstevens.

Ok folks I have been away from my blog for way too long, but I’m back with some more points to ponder. So as Larry McReynolds likes to say before every NASCAR race, DW reach up there and pull those belts tight one more time!

Todays topic is about the Ashtabula drivers. I’m sure you all know what I’m talking about. Now I don’t want to on too long on this but this subject always gets my blood boiling. Let’s start with the most obvious. I don’t in any way want to come off as insensitive, honestly people, alot of our beloved senior citezens need to be taken off the road. A lot of these people remember using horses and buggys to get around, and now they are driving Cadillacs. We are putting powerfull 2 thousand pound vehicles under the control of someone wearing a diaper. Do you really want an angry senior citizen with poopy pants coming at you head  on Lake road at night? On the serious side I’m worried about them as well. Driving a car is one of the ultimate freedoms in this country. Did you know that in a lot of Islamic countries it is illegal for a woman to drive a car? I completely understand that many of these people do not want to give up this privelege, I know I don’t look forward to the day when they tell me I can no longer drive a car. But we have to save them from themselves. They think they are driving ok when you and I both know thats not true. So when grandma starts showing up with mysterious dents and scarpes on their vehicle, its time to take the keys. Of course at that point you become their personal taxi service so be prepared.

Now we come to the attention deficit disoder (ADD) drivers of ashtabula. These are the people that don’t understand that the light will turn green shortly, it’s probably not the right time to send (or read) your latest text message. For the ladies out there: you only have a few seconds to fix your hair or check your makeup, I know the light is taking too long but you don’t have a few minutes either. The person behind you probably got their look together BEFORE they left the house so you should drop to the end of the longest line so you won’t be holding up traffic. For the ADD male driver: checking out the cute girl walking or driving along while you sit at the red light is probably not a good idea. I can almost guarantee that your lady friend will know down to 1/100th of a second when that light turns green, so you better be ready. Also as a warning, and I speak from experience, while your checking that hot chick out someone is going to pull out in front of you or do something stupid to ruin your view. So I’ve come up with the 3 second rule. You have 3 seconds to check out the girl (or guy for the ladies) and then you must look back to where you are going, after you do that you have another 3 seconds.

Recently I worked first shift and observed another phenomenon that I like to call the Mc Donalds drivers or MDD. The MDD drivers are those people trying to get to work as fast as they can because they didn’t get up early enough to get themselves together and have plenty of time to get to work. So these people run out the door at the last minute, make a quick stop at the Mc Donalds drive-thru for that quick cup of coffee and then get to work with at least 30 seconds to spare. These are the people usually in huge pick-up trucks or SUV’s. Now they are jacked up on caffein and in a big hurry and you’d better get outta their way. If the light is yellow they are going to go-for-it no matter what. In fact I recommend waiting 3 seconds after the light turns green before going thru the intersection just to be safe. One last thing on the MDD drivers. They have a tendancy to unexpectedly need to run back home or mysteriously change directions because they have forgotten the way to work, so give them some room.

Lastly we come to what I like to call the absolute idiot drivers or AID’s. These are the people who do every other stupid thing you can think of to piss you off. These are the people that should be taken from their cars and beaten in public. They don’t pay attention, they cut you off, they make semi-truck right turns and sit in the middle of the road or parking lot like there is nothing going on in the world but what THEY are doing. These people are more dangerous than any other driver because they have no freaking clue as to what they are doing. Always be on the look-out for the AID driver. They don’t see you hear you or even know you exist. They will sware on a stack of bibles that you weren’t there and pass a lie detector test because it’s true. They really didn’t see you there.

I’m going to end right here stay tuned for part 2.

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March 3, 2007 by gpstevens.

You may or may not know that I don’t like to read alot of joke and funny emails. I don’t mind getting a joke or two here and there but most of the time it’s just too much to read along with all the other stuff I read on a regular basis. One thing I do enjoy reading is news articles and information, and every now and then something shows up that really makes you think.

Julie sent me an email that was a copy of a letter that someone wrote to their local newspaper about drug testing. Basically the guy wanted to know why he has to pass a drug test just so he can work and pay taxes while people who receive public assistance and basically dont work for their money don’t have to pass a drug test?

Now that got me to thinking. Let me see if I understand this.

 I have to work 40 hours a week to pay my bills, pay my health insurance, buy food and gas so I can get to work, and with what little I have left over I can party as I see fit. But in order for me to live this way I have to pass a drug test. But people who receive public assistance can do all that plus they don’t even have to get out of bed in the morning and go to work, and they DON’T have to pass a drug test? 

Now I understand that from time to time people need a helping hand and the government is willing to help out. I have been on welfare several times in my life and to be totally honest I stayed on way too long because it was easier to stay in bed than it was to get up and go to work everyday. But if I would have had to pass a drug test in order to get my check every month I would have starved to death because when you’re a lazy bastard what else do you have to do but get high? I did more drugs on welfare than I ever could working a real job. You never had to worry about getting laid off of welfare, after all the government never runs out of money right? All of you stupid people were going to work everyday to pay for my drugs; and the best part of all was, you had to pass a drug test to make sure you weren’t getting high while you were working for my dope. Genius! While you were brewing a hot cup of coffee at 5:30 in the morning so you could wake up and go bust your ass for some boss that you can’t stand the sight of let alone work for, I was sleeping off a hangover. And when you came home from work to your screaming kids, and your nagging wife or husband, I was just lighting up my first joint while I watched TV and ate breakfast at 5 O’clock in the afternoon. Lastly when you looked at the TV guide a saw that there was one of your favorite ovies coming on but you couldn’t watch it because you had to get some sleep, me and my friends who were also on welfare were getting bombed and watching that movie for you. Afterall, we had the day off.

Seriously people, something has to be done about this. If I have to bust my ass and pass a test, then those lazy bastards should have to pass one too. Or maybe I’ve got this all wrong. We should raise the minimum wage to around $25 an hour and then those of us who have been working hard should quit our jobs and let those people who have been bitching about low paying jobs aren’t worth getting off welfare can start taking care of us. I also say we should make people who get social security take drug tests as well. I’m pretty sure there are quite a few dope fiend senior citizens out their driving their little motor scooters around Wal-Mart high as a kite on drugs that we pay for.

I say enough is enough. We want to have the day off too!!

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February 16, 2007 by gpstevens.

I’m truly amazed at the media, and the celebrities that dominate the news. I thought I’d seen it all when a former baseball player died and their was a family fight over whether to cut off his head and freeze it or just bury the man. Well that story has ended and Ted Williams’ head is now in cryogenic freeze. Now poor Anna Nicole Smith’s body is sitting in a cooler in Florida waiting for the rich people to and the courts to decide who has the right to bury her and where she will be buried.

Apparently the American people love this crap because the ratings go up with every mention of her name. Now I find the story interesting, and I would like to know how she died but for crying out loud can we at least bury her? It’s been 9 days already, can we bury her yet??

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