The "Less Fortunate"

We are once again entering the holiday season. It's such an awesome time of year. I have always enjoyed it, but I enjoy it even more since I have a wife that absolutely loves it, and two kids to share all the joy with. I wouldn't change a thing.

However, the holidays seem to always bring more talk about the "less fortunate". What exactly is the less fortunate? Someone answered that once by saying, "People who aren't lucky enough to have money, food, clothes and shelter." My guess is, most people would agree with that answer. But I look at it differently. The word that sticks out to me in that answer is "lucky." When people work hard and budget correctly, money, food, clothes, and shelter isn't generated from luck. It's something that is earned.

I know there are exceptions. I totally understand that.

Two things concern me about donating and giving to the lazy less fortunate: 1.) Corruption. For example, how do you know that the money you put in that basket outside the department store with the shady guy ringing the bell is actually being given to or used on someone that truly needs and/or deserves it? and 2.) Who? Should the money that I worked so hard for be given to someone that is short on money? ...short on money, because they don't have any left after they didn't work hard enough to get a decent paying job, and then they blew the little amount they had on cigarettes, fast food, and the latest DVD that they are playing on their big flat screen TV?

I've come to the conclusion that (generally speaking) it's human nature to take the path of least resistance. There are a lot of people that will simply take every inch that's given to them. This is from a 2010 New York Times article: "One in eight Americans rely on food stamps; one in four children in the United States rely on food stamps; one in 50 Americans live on nothing but food stamps."

What's crazy is that I hesitate to donate my money, food, or anything else because of these things. But I'm not a stingy person. In fact, if I know a person is truly in need of help, I will be the fist one to offer assistance; Oh you fell down, let me help you up. Oh you dropped something, let me pick it up for you. Oh you're lazy, fuck you.

Merry Christmas.

We have a pool!

It's crazy to think of how our backyard used to be. I mean it was like that for the entire time we've lived in this house (9 years, I guess?). But this summer, the Summer of 2011 we decided to change everything (a recap video on youtube to come soon). We've been wanting to at least re-do the pathetic patio and patio cover that we had. But once we started to move on that (getting quotes, thinking it through, etc), we realized that if we ever wanted a pool, we would have to put the pool in first - because a new patio would be in the way of any construction. We got a quote on a pool, and it was much cheaper than we thought it was going to be (at least it seemed like that at first). At that point, it was on! 2 to 3 months later, and now we're swimming! Our backyard is completly different, and we love it. Plus, it allows us to hang out together as a family and totally enjoy our backyard like we never enjoyed it before.

We still have to cover the patio (hopefully we can get that done this winter / before next summer), but it hasn't stopped us from making the most of the new setup. Ah, twelve thousand gallons of cool, refreshing water. It's awesome.

It's OK, I'm a limo driver!

I am now in my fifth year of driving limousines as my part time job. I enjoy it for three main reasons: 1. it's a good change of pace compared to my desk job during the week, 2. it's an excellent source for extra cash, and 3. I... see... a... lot! I've had many people say I should write memoirs of my experiences, and I totally agree. Or maybe I should have simply kept a blog that I updated with each "run." Better yet, if I could have a camera crew ride along with me, like that show COPS. It's crazy to think of everything I've seen - and so much of it would have made excellent reality TV.

Well, I'm tired and off to bed, so maybe someday I'll go into detail... or maybe not. :-)

House clean?

Why, why, why... do people clean their house when they are going to have company over, or if they are going on vacation, etc? In my opinion, it should be clean for YOU! Which means that it should be clean all the time / when you are there - to enjoy it! I see it all the time: people live in a dirty house each day, and then they only clean it when they are having company over. Shouldn't your standards be higher for yourself?

It's kind of like when people move (out of their house, or out of their desk at work, etc), they throw a bunch of stuff away? Why is that? If you are living in the house, why is it OK to have a bunch of junk around and only throw it away once it's time to move it?

Alright, I'm done.

SX

I had a small toy dirtbike when I was a kid, and I remember liking that toy more than my other toys. It was black and red and it had a rider that I could snap into place on the bike. Then there was that kid, Mike, that lived over by Adam. He had an actual dirt bike, and I think he realized how awesome I thought it was for him to have one. I remember this like it was yesterday: it was early on a Saturday morning when the doorbell rang. I opened the door and there was Mike standing at the door, and I could see behind him his dirt bike laying on it's side on the sidewalk. He laid it down like a bmx bike so that he could come to our door and ask if I wanted to go with him down the street into the desert. I was excited to say the least.

Weeks later, I was riding my bmx bike on my paper route when I saw a simlar dirt bike for sale at a yard sale. I had to have it, and after convincing my parents, I bought it for $120. I never wanted to stop riding that 1978 Suzuki DS80, and it's the DS80 that lead to Jamie, Chuck, Todd, and Jimmy buying dirt bikes.

I eventually upgraded to an '82 Yamaha YZ80, and started racing in high school when I got my '88 YZ125. It's forever in my blood!

Each year the 2nd race of the Supercross season is in Phoenix at Chase Field. I remember going before that stadium was even built and they held the race at Sun Devil Stadium! I truely enjoy it; like Christmas to a kid, or like the World Series to a baseball fan - it's freakin exciting!

This past weekend Meg, Conner, Emma and I went up to Phoenix to stay at John and Susan's house. Emma stayed with Grandma, and the three of us went to see the races! This season is by far the best one; with so many good riders there's not one person that appears that they can dominate. Meg took pics of us with Roger Decoster, Carey Hart, and Trey Conard. One of Chad Reed's crew members gave Conner the seat cover off Reed's bike!

It's safe to say that this is the only sport I'll ever need.

General Status Update

So where am I at in this phase of my life? For example, if I ran into someone I haven't seen in 25 years, here is what I would want to tell them if they asked what is up with me:

By the way, as I said in my last post, there's no such thing as a random thought - I recently got in touch with Adam (the kid I hung out with in elementary school). We didn't talk much in junior high, then went to different high schools, and never talked after that. I saw his mom on Facebook, and so I asked about him and she gave me his email address. So here is what I would tell him (although I'm writing it here so that I can one day read this and see what was up in January of 2011 in the life of Ty Pessin)...

I am married to Megan. I met her at NAU, and although she graduated a couple years after I did, she ended up moving down to Tucson from Phoenix. That kickstarted me into buying a condo, which we sold four years later and allowed us to buy a house (on the east side of Tucson). A week after moving into our house we found out that Meg was pregnant. We now have a 7 year old boy (Conner), and a 4 year old girl (Emma).

Usually it's the simple things that I enjoy the most; I like hangin out in our driveway while the kids ride their bikes up and down the street. Sometimes we'll BBQ out there, and it's nice having the small beer fridge in the garage for easy access and the stereo is set up so that we can listen to some tunes.

I love to mountain bike, although a common theme is that I don't ride as much as I would like to. I stay busy with work; I work full time as a System Administrator for a mortgage company, and I work part time as a chauffeur for a limousine company. After earning my bachelor's degree in Political Science from NAU, I earned a second bachelor's degree in Information Technology from UofP, and I have been in I.T. since 1998. Maybe someday I'll use my Poly Sci degree, although I could consider it my ticket to finding my wife!

I'm a huge Supercross fan, and I like to play drums whenever I get the chance (even if it's banging on an upsidedown bucket with drum sticks).

I've worked hard to get to where I'm at, so I'm happy with how things are and I wouldn't change a thing.

My blogging continues...

I like the idea of writing down my random thoughts and recapping what's going on in my life. Part of it is for the moment; it's a way to clear my head. However, most of it is for future entertainment. I like to look back, and see what I had to say, and what was going on "back then."

It's kind of like that financial quote that I like so much from Warren Buffett: "Someone's sitting in shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago."

So what's the haps these days? Well, I originally started using MySpace back in the day so that I could have a place to blog. However, I don't use that site anymore so I've taken a long break because of not having a place to write. The recent, and very tragic, events that have happened in Tucson has pushed me to want to write - my mind fills up and this will be a great place for it to overflow.

How can someone cause harm to an innocent person? I phrased the question like that because I wouldn't hesitate to do some serious harm to someone that is deserving of it; not the "deserving" like I don't agree with their views, but deserving like they are causing harm to me or my family... but then that brings us right back to doing something to someone that's innocent. It's kind of like there's no such thing as a random thought - something has to provoke it... and if I had to place blame on one thing for the crazies in this world, I would say it's lack of good parenting. If each child that is born from this moment on has two loving parents that provide education on what's right from wrong, this world will quickly become a much better place.