Thursday, October 10, 2013

Unemployment 2013

I'm looking over unemployment numbers this morning. Part of why is I'm wanting to see if the Affordable Care Act is having any effect on hiring. That's of course the new health care law that's also known as Obamacare. It's starting to be reasonable numbers and the rate is dropping considerably. Even better, it's continuing to drop which is telling me the new law is having little effect on hiring.

For Colorado it was 7.0% for this August. At the high point in Aug 2010 it was 9.1%.

For the US 7.4% for this August. At the high point in October 2009 it was 10.0%

Now what's probably going to happen as the rate continues to drop is there will be a pressure effect on wages. Basically, employers will have to compete for employees so the wages they're offering will have to go up. That I did get from reading through Adam Smith's economic tome which could be a good sleeping pill with the way it's written.

I believe the wage pressures should start happening when the unemployment rate hits around 6.0% though I could be mistaken though I did see a few more recent indications it's started. It's also getting easier to find a job. BTW, if unemployment hits in the 3.5% range like it did I hope you have savings built up, the bubble is getting ready to pop. I do mean the national unemployment number, not the state one. States that have an agriculture basis have lower unemployment rates naturally. So, what I will recommend when you get that raise, or that new job, start saving even if it isn't much.
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Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Klarissa Dreams

This was to get in my email the other day. Apparently, from what I've been told the book is due out the middle of next month. You will be able to find it in many bookstores is my understanding though I'm sure you'll be able to find it on Amazon also. I'm kind of wanting to go see it on a shelf  in one the physical bookstores it will be stocked at and know that I contributed to the stories that are a part of it. My piece goes along with the sunflower image and it's one the most amazing bits of fantasy I think I've ever written. The book benefits a good cause, I don't get anything out of it other than the pride of knowing I helped others.


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Tuesday, October 8, 2013

National Debt

One thing you'll be hearing about soon, if you haven't already, is debt the US government owes and the fact they want to increase the debt limit. It's a huge amount, $17 trillion and counting. Most of us could never spend that amount no matter how hard we tried, however, the US government has.
Now, that number isn't quite so large when you consider the debt to GDP ratio. That’s actually a little more in the reasonable range. GDP stands for Gross Domestic Product. That number is 73%. It was higher. But since we've started coming out of the Great Recession the economy has grown which has reduced that ratio. Theoretically, the percentage should keep going down as the economy continues to improve.
Basically the smaller the ratio is the easier it should be to pay off the total debt. With a larger GDP there are more taxes collected and so on. Unfortunately we have Congress that's in charge of it and I doubt much will be done to actually decrease the total debt. It's kind of like a credit card that you've charged some things on. Instead of paying it off you allow the interest to keep accumulating which is what Congress has basically done. Now, you go buy more stuff on the same credit card. You can see where this is headed.

As a rule, you and I are limited to what our credit limit is. Congress however isn't. Could you imagine having the ability to set your own credit limit? It would never get paid by most of us. That's part of why the US governments debt is now $17 trillion.
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Wednesday, September 25, 2013

On loss

There's a fellow author that just went through one of the worst things you can go through. The loss of your life partner. The connection to your significant other is a really deep one. It's one of the deepest ones I know of. I understand this because I woke up one morning before dawn to discover my first wife Patricia had passed away in her sleep.
You feel empty. A chunk of you is gone. It's very much like you're an empty shell. You walk along but you don't feel the ground. I probably wouldn't have felt someone chopping off my fingers at that time of my life. They weren't the other half of you. They were something more if that makes any sense to you.
You about have to relearn how to live because in a sense you died also at the same time. I liken that time to being a walking dead person. That's the closest I can describe it. I ate food only because I felt Patricia wanted me to. It sure wasn't because I was hungry.

For a time it's like they never left. You talk to them. There's actual conversations that goes on when you're out of earshot of the living. It's kind of funny but I actually asked Patricia for her blessing when I was getting with Brandy. She gave it. That was the last time I seen her ghost.
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Tuesday, September 24, 2013

A little from best selling author, Kathy Clark.

  • This is Kathy Clark's 29th book, her 6th Indie Book, CRIES IN THE NIGHT. The 2nd in the Denver AFter Dark Romantic Suspense series, the story is about a Victim's Advocate and asks the question “Who saves a hero?” Find the book on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/CRIES-NIGHT-DENVER-AFTER-ebook/dp/B00FDRYCIQ/
  • The story is about Julie Lawrence who is a Victim’s Advocate for the Denver PD. Her job is to respond to domestic violence incidents, fires, car accidents and other tragic events where people need help dealing with their darkest moments. She has had her own share of tragedies in the past which gives her empathy and a unique insight into victims and what they need to heal and move on with their lives. But she is better at giving advice than taking it and has closed herself off from sharing her life with anyone or anything except a stray tiger-striped gray cat.
    Rusty Wilson is a firefighter with a reputation for working hard and playing harder. He meets Julie while he is trying to save a burning house and she is protecting a battered wife and an unborn child. He is attracted to her, but not ready to settle down. To his surprise, she resists even his most platonic attempts at developing a relationship. One day a typical call turns into a hostage situation, and Julie rushes to the scene, partly in her role of Victim’s Advocate and partly because Rusty is involved.
    She finally accepts his offer of friendship, and as they get to know each other better, they realize they have a lot in common. When a stalker starts playing a cat-and-mouse game with Julie, she and Rusty work together, trying to figure out which of her past domestic violence cases has created a psycho who wants revenge. In her line of work, there are a lot of people who want her dead.
    Julie has no idea who is trying to kill her. The warnings had started out as just creepy, but gradually turn into genuine threats on her life. Rusty provides the emotional and moral support she hadn't realized she needed until the danger increases. Their love affair starts in the heat of passion and ends when he finds out her secrets. Someone is watching . . . and waiting. Julie has dedicated herself to saving other people. Who’s going to save her?
    CRIES IN THE NIGHT is Book #2 in the Denver After Dark series. AFTER MIDNIGHT is Book #1 has won several prestigious awards, including being named The Best Indie Suspense Novel of 2013 and 3rd place in the Readers’ Favorite Suspense Novel Award of 2013.
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Monday, September 23, 2013

Garden

We've had quite a bit of rainfall for a little while, got more last night. Several inches of rain fell during September which is not normal for Colorado Springs. I was wondering if the garden was going to survive or not. It's probably affected the tomatoes and the bell peppers a little because the weather's been cooler than it would normally be.
There's been a lot of weed killer used in the mobile home park where I live. Because of that stuff in the ground it's been very difficult to grow many things that you would normally grow in a garden like tomatoes and bell peppers. Last year no peppers and only a couple of tomatoes. The year before, none. So far, no peas or green beans. They just won't grow. Maybe one day though.

This year they've grown quite well. We have waist high tomato plants that are loaded with fruits and boy are they good. It looks the chemicals have started to reduce enough they aren't affecting as much as they had been. Maybe next year we'll finally get some peas growing. One can hope.
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Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Winter's Island blog tour

Today, the author Lillian MacKenzie Rhine stops by on her blog tour for her newly released vampire romance titled Winter’s Island. Please enjoy a blurb about the 5-star read:
Cay Winters is an impressionable free spirit from Los Angeles, California. Losing her mother at a very youthful age has given her a drive to live life a certain way. Her aunt Lulu and cousin Malcolm welcome her into their hearts, taking care of all of the things needed by a motherless child. Being an artist has taken her to a lot of interesting places; but when the chance to live in Saint Thomas, Virgin Islands appears, she is eager to take it.
Once there, she is overwhelmed by the beauty and the mystique of the Virgin Islands. The food, the beaches, the attractions are amazing, but William Gatling is the best part. He takes on the task of teaching Cay how to love the right way. The only problem is the secret that he holds from her. A revelation that could rip her from his heart; or, worse yet, end her life.

The two lovers spend so much effort trying to fight their inner demons that they cannot see the true devils that are sitting in front of their faces. Once Cay fights her battles within, she can finally win the war outside. Once William accepts the truth, he can see the light.
Lillian is also the creator of the cover art for all her pieces, so today she will discuss what went into creating this beautiful book cover.
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First I want to mention that all the layers of this cover and all my covers are used with free stock images since I am a starving artist; but to get started, I had a totally different vision for my cover than the finished product. My thoughts were to have the back of a woman or a silhouette of a woman from behind with a nice background texture. As some may know, when it comes to free stock images...good stocks are rare and nice female stocks are non-existent. I knew I also wanted something on the cover that represented the island of Saint Thomas, VI as well. Not being able to find a free image, I input a placeholder image while I searched high and low for the perfect female (at that point I was willing to pay for a stock photo as well). Below is the first cover I created minus the female placeholder:
The plan was to use the feathers as a representation of a Carnival headdress and the background to simulate spilled blood. (My cover I created for my first piece was also red, so I got a few comments on that.) I had a difficult time deciding where I actually wanted to place the feathers, then somehow I ended shrinking the feathers and duplicating for a showgirl type feel; meanwhile, I steadily sought out a stock image of a female or feminine body part.
One day, I was blindly searching through my favorite stock image site when I stumbled upon an image of an abstract female profile. It was perfect for the cover; however, it just did not go with the black feathers that I had chosen in the image above; so with that knowledge, I set out to find the best background texture for the female face.
The above image was my final piece of combined stocks and editing techniques. I was still able to use the feather and crimson concept as I wished in the beginning. All I had to do was add font. During my observations of book covers that I believed were phenomenal representations and those that were horrendous, I realized that either way it goes, font is the key element that can make or break a great cover. I have always loved to use color in my fonts which in some cases can be very bad...it was in my case as well. I laugh on it right now, but it is important to have a network small or large of viewers that will give you honest opinions on everything you put out. There are actual sites out there that bash and poke fun at terrible covers, so be weary of those. Without further ado, my colorful fonts:
The final cover was the one I chose to be the face of Winter’s Island, until I dove deeper into my observations of book covers. Playing around with plain white font and different fonts, I fell in love with the cover I have today. The lettering allocated to the author name section was difficult to see so I had to play around with the size and add in just a smidge of yellow to make it stand out.
***
This was a very informative posting, and I thank you for sharing with all and any who plan on creating their own images.
To read Lillian’s vampire romance, Winter’s Island, please click the amazon links below. To view her past and future works, visit her blog and Facebook page also found below.





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