Garrett M. Vonk

“We’re going to keep jobs in America and help the industry be more competitive with foreign manufacturers that are building those cars today,” Kerry said.

“I want cars to be made in Michigan, made in America, made” by the United Auto Workers, Kerry said.

I’m no economics wiz, but I personally would prefer that cars be made ANYWHERE but the US. And pencils. And Ipods. And computers. And anything else. I would love to see the day when American ingenuity was thought of as so valuable it couldn’t be wasted on manufacturing, or other such jobs, and Americans just sat around thinking stuff up all day long.

If we brought back all of the jobs making all of the crap that we import from, say, Taiwan, our standard of living would go down, not up, because these things are not profitable for a people such as ours to produce.

I wish I were still taking classes, so I could skip them today.

This will be a nice weekend, though. Since we moved at work last weekend, I’ve been complaining about not getting a day off for 2 weeks now.

Thanks, Amazon, for confusing me this morning. I haven’t had enough coffee to understand whether I should purchase the UNABRIDGED ABRIDGED version of The Law.

The Original
Cats are very easy to take pictures of, especially kittens.

1. Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18, find line 4. Write down what it says:
Having done so, one would come to a singular inescapable conclusion: namely, that, horrifying as it sounds, the secret relationship between these two families helped to trigger the Age of Terror and give rise to the tragedy of 9/11.

Yes, I am reading House of Bush, House of Saud.  Pretty interesting so far.

2. Stretch your left arm out as far as you can. What do you touch first?
My 2003 Form W-2 Wage and Tax Statement from the University of Georgia, who withheld $3.08 in Federal Income Tax and $0.89 in Georgia Income Tax

3. What is the last thing you watched on TV?
The Simpsons, the episode where Bart gets bitten by a Chinese mosquito and has to live in a bubble.

4: WITHOUT LOOKING, guess what time it is:
12:27

5: Now look at the clock; what is the actual time?
12:29… Not too bad.

6. With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?
SmoothJazz.com and the fan in my room.

7. When did you last step outside? What were you doing?
Came home from work approz. 6:00, been here ever since.

8. Before you came to this Web site, what did you look at?
The AIM window.  I’m chatting with Matt…

9. What are you wearing?
Basketball shorts and an undershirt, my common “lounging around the apartment” outfit.

10. Did you dream last night?
Yeah, had a weird dream where my roommate was synthesizing drugs in my bathroom.  Kind of offended me.

11. When did you last laugh?
When on the phone with Heather about 15 minutes ago.

12. What is on the walls of the room you are in?
My framed diplomas and the photos I made, printed and framed for Heather’s birthday.

13: Seen anything weird lately?
I can’t really say I have. 

14: What is the last film you saw?
Dawn of the Dead.  Awesome.  Really, really good movie.

16: If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy first?
A car.  Mine is really hurting.  I rolled over 200,000 miles last month.

17: Tell me something about you that I don’t know.
My favorite menu item at Taco Bell is the Chili Cheese Burrito, with sour cream added.

18: If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt or politics, what would you do?
I’d probably make the intellectual barrier to entry for surviving much higher, so that the average intelligence on the planet would rapidly increase.  We could accomplish a lot more in a few generations.

19: Do you like to dance?
Somewhat.  In the right environment it can be kind of fun.

What’s up with me?

I’ve now had too much new stuff piling up in my life for me not to write an entry here.

New Job
The biggest news is that I am no longer at Vascent. A new opportunity opened up for me at a Norcross, Ga based company called Massage Warehouse and while working at Vascent was certainly a rewarding experience, factors beyond my control resulted in my need to find a new place and a new opportunity. Massage Warehouse is an absolutely wonderful company with so much potential.

I’ve fit in very well in my first 4 weeks here; I’m somewhat sandwiched between an IT staff of 3 and a marketing staff of 10 or so, but there is ample opportunity to really make a difference and that was what I was going for. We sell products for massage therapists and for the home. I am impressed with the company.

Since I last updated…
I’ve been camping twice.
Heather and I got a kitten.
I tasted dozens of beers at the Athens Brewfest this weekend.
I crushed my cell phone installing stereo equipment in my car and had to get a new one.

So, that’s it! I’ll see you all in another month!