BLOG TV PROMO!!!

Blog tv is where I do my live shows. Check me out...

http://www.blogtv.com/People/ptalent

It goes down, live, interact.

1st Month Review

U.S. on the decline, other countries on the rise...

So Mack Trucks is closing a plant in Allentown thus letting go 680 employees. This happens after they added 150 workers recently due to an increase in orders from other countries located in Latin America, Middle East and Africa. Hmmmmmmm. So while other countries seem to be building, U.S. is somehow crumbling. Take it how you want it, THERE ARE NO SAFE JOBS. I will continue this message because it's the truth, flat out. WE ALL NEED A BACKUP PLAN. Please don't think this is an effort to try and drive business for myself. I simply want people to understand that you can't depend on anybody at the end of the day except for yourself. So the question is, What are you working on, doing or building for you, that you can depend on at the end of the day? If your only answer to that is a job and maybe some kind of savings account, I will simply pray for you.

Office Depot Makes Cuts

So I read this not too long ago and thought on it for a while and decided to elaborate on it because I don't think people really get what's going on. Office Depot are going to cut 112 stores, which will in turn eliminate 2,200 jobs. They usually open 40 stores a year. So along with these cuts, they will only be opening only 20 next year.

So yea, we all know the economy is bad and that's what most of us will relate this too without looking at the bigger picture. It's OFFICE Depot. Regular consumers aren't the bulk of their customers, offices are. They don't just sell paper, pens, and pencils and school supplies and simple office supplies. They basically sell EVERYTHING you could have in an office down to the cubicle itself. So Offices aren't shopping. They aren't shopping because they aren't opening. Office depot themselves are only opening half their NORMAL rate of NEW stores. Why is this such a big deal. If new businesses aren't being generated and people are already losing jobs at a record pace, how long will it be until it affects you or someone close to you.

I'm going to keep harping on this because at the end of the day; There are 2,800 4 year schools in the U.S. alone. Too keep it simple for a numbers sake and just to make a point. Let's say each semester only 200 graduate from every school. THAT'S OVER HALF A MILLION NEW QUALIFIED, CHEAP, and YOUNG, career seekers every six months! This is just for the 4 year schools people, in the U.S. Do I need to continue to stress that things are obviously going to get worst before they get better no matter what Obama does. I'm going to keep asking, because all of us really need an legitimate answer. WHAT'S YOUR BACKUP PLAN? How long could you go without a traditional job paycheck? What would you do if you couldn't find work for a month to a year or ever longer? THIS IS SERIOUS. UNDERSTAND. THEIR ARE ALTERNATIVES.

Seriously People, WHAT'S YOUR BACKUP PLAN?

Sometimes people get mad at me when I tell them I will never give into the philosophy of working for someone else. I understand at the end of the day, yes, it pays the bills, allows you to do other things, and finance your future. The thing is, all of things are said hopefully. I am a Entrepreneur at heart simply because at the end of the day I can't rely on someone else to take care of me. I need to build something that in 10 plus years won't go anywhere no matter what I do or the economy does, or any one single person or groups aka Franchise Boards choose to do. I'm building my backup plan while working because at the end of the day, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS THE PERFECT JOB.

A Tale of Two Tales

So there are these two ladies whom I work with (one at each job) who are old enough to be my mother. One lady is sort of an older more improved version of me. Rarely will you ever see her even hint at being truly upset, sure she gets somewhat aggravated here and there and let's out some frustration, but never is it at the end of the day a real big deal. She sings randomly, seems to always have a 'genuine' smile, and just reeks a warming feeling with her presence. The other lady sadly is quite the opposite in this reference: She complains just about everyday about some thing period, and doesn't just complain about it and it's over, but really has a problem with something, EVERYDAY. She is always depressed due to her certain circumstances, which are still better than most peoples at the end of the day. Her needs are covered as far as I know. Her main gripe at the end of the day is that she once was rich and now she isn't due to the common practices of the corporate world. Either way, I personally feels as though God is trying her to help her but she isn't getting the message so he keeps making it worst until she gets it.

So I'm at work today with the depressing, complaining one and she ask me how am I doing today. I simply replied, "I'm pretty ok outside of me being somewhat sick." She responds, "physically or mentally." I'm thinking, why would I ever be mentally sick with God on my side. So I respond with, "my throat is still soar and the other day I had a headache all day, my mental will always be ok." She replies, "well I'm mentally sick, no matter what I do, no matter how much I pray, things just keep getting worst, and I can't figure out what God is trying to teach me and its driving me crazy." Now to most people, you would feel for her, or want to console her or help her, but this is her just about everyday. On top of that, she finishes up with these statements; "Everyday I wake up it's just more bad things, it's to the point where sometimes I just don't want to get out of bed." I WAS FURIOUS ON THE INSIDE. Needless to say, be careful what you ask for, and I'm going to leave that there. But if that wasn't enough, she sums up the conversation with this, "Christmas use to be my holiday......" She basically goes on about how she use to have so much money and could get people all these gifts and that would be what made Christmas special to her, to be able to do all that for people and now that she can't she's depressed. I left the store after this point to keep myself from hurting her feelings.

First and foremost; CHRISTMAS ISN'T ABOUT SANTA CLAUSE AND GIFT GIVING!!! Like I said, this is a woman who is old enough to be my mother who claims to believe in God and so on and so on, but yet, your sitting here truly upset that you can't provide multiple gifts for your family like you use to. My gosh I was annoyed. I learned Christmas wasn't about gifts how many years ago and to just be with family and to celebrate the birth of our saviour is what it all was about. Like I said, I had to leave the store. So I left the store and went over to my other job to vent to the loving, never too upset older lady. She obviously agreed with me and the icing on the cake was when she said, "Paul does she have kids," which I replied, "yes," and she replied with, "well tell her that gifts aren't everything because I wouldn't give one gift it meant I could have my son with me this Christmas." AND SHE SAID IT WITH SO MUCH WARMTH, NOT HURT, NOR DEPRESSION. We debate on who should try and set her straight but I promote that I've been trying to help her over and over again, and all she does is agree and still act the same way. So we agree that we'll just pray because at the end of the day, that's all you can do sometimes for people. They have to do it themselves and prayer changes things.

This was a tale I had to share to hope and pray that nobody is depressed this holiday season for the wrong reasons. I have a house to call home, clothing on my back, food to eat and a job to go to. I have family and friends who truly love and appreciate me. If I don't give out one gift, only my one younger cuz, will be upset (history to that, haha). At the end of the day, if all I could do was just show my face between Christmas eve and the end of Christmas day, that would more than be enough. On the other hand, I haven't requested or expected a Christmas gift nor birthday gift since I was about 17 to the point that I would be upset if I didn't receive it. I am truly thankful that my needs are taking care of and that I have a fortune in Love in my account. Happy Holidays everybody...God Bless.

Maybe It's Just Me - "Stand Out"

This is going to correlate directly with my theme song (if you don't know what that is simply scroll down). I don't know if it's just me getting to old for my age or what but I don't fully understand or should I say go along with certain things as it seems most people do. Now is it just me or do most people say they are original now and days and that they aren't followers and so on and so on. Well if that's the case, what's up with everyone wearing scarves, INDOORS, as a fashion accessory. Now once again, maybe it's just me. I understand trends come and go, but at the end of the day, I was never one to really follow a trend because as I said they eventually go. Granted if i really liked a trend and it was something I could see myself always doing it even when people stopped, then yes, I went along with it. I used to wear scarves when it was cold outside, OUTSIDE, now I don't even want to wear one (yea sounds stupid) because I don't want to look like I'm following a trend because that is so not my thing. Anyways, maybe it's just me, but this whole rocking scarves INDOORS on top of Sunglasses when you not a celebrity with a buncha cameras in ya face just aint groovin with me.

Another thing is the slang that comes and goes. Now granted we all fall victim of adapting to it most times because its simple sometimes its to keep stuff somewhat of a secret and other times it may have started out as a joke and just stuck and other times it just really works and you couldn't imagine what took its place before it came about. A good example of a slang word or phrase that needs to be in the dictionary is "jawn/jaun" (however you spell it). It is one of the best slang words developed in philly. I didn't realize how much of a philly thing it was until I got to college, where I found myself actually explaining on multiple occasions the proper usage and definition of the word. It simply takes the place of a noun/pronoun. It's great. Now on the other end of the spectrum there's this whole "in my bag" movement. Like seriously, I understand what it means, and where it's going but at the same time, where the did that come from and why? I'm just not a fan of it, just say "I'm fly," "doing it," "showing off," or one of those originals. Like I said in the beginning, either I'm getting to old for my age be just going with the flow or I'm just more in tune with that them song than I thought. Stand out...

Bump on the head comclusion...

So I have a basketball game today at the Y league and I wasn't thinking about it for the most part until about 2 or 3. Anyways, this weekend I went to support my man Dre at an arena football league tryout. Being there led me to some interesting conclusions. For one, I really am a better athlete than I give myself credit for. Dre really does throw harder than most NFL quarterbacks. I could really be one of the best athletes on the east coast. Outside of that, I saw a number of people I knew that wondered why I wasn't trying out, and the answer simply was, "I'm not a football player anymore, I love my body too much." Most people understood that. Then, on the other spectrum there were people who I've played against in many basketball leagues who asked what I was doing there, and I responded with, "I'm a football player, this is what we do, I'm not really a basketball player, I just do that for fun and to stay in shape." Obviously we have a problem here. If I'm not a basketball player by natural talent but not a football player by choice, what am I? Then ironically I realized that my favorite player in all sports is MJ and his first love was football and baseball, but he ended up the most recognized if not best basketball player ever. Sometimes, its really not about what you want. Once again, these messages are settling in and really setting my course for me. What does all of this mean? I'm not a football player, basketball player, or any specific player, I'm a person blessed with great athletic abilities and need to use them because God gave them to me for a reason. I just pray I don't make anymore bad decisions. This game tonight should be interesting. Paul the knowingly "gifted" athlete will be playing tonight. Should be entertaining.

Theme Song

Heard this song not too long ago and listened to it like 10 times straight because I felt the same exact way. Listen and try to understand, STAND OUT...

Random Though #5 "Is This What Philly Is?"

So I was checking my Sixers the other night. They won the game. Was up 20 and still almost lost but hey what can you do, a win is a win. Anyways, none of that really is blog-worthy of course unless I was to throw in the Eagles somewhere in there, but naw, not gonna go there either. What I noticed that got me the thinking was the T-Shirt look on the bench. Now of course, I coulda just let it be, hey they got T-shirts on and left it at that, but that wouldn't be "Paul-like." I always try to look at the meaning or possibly bigger picture to something. Now yes, there are many teams that have mesh-like t-shirt warm ups that they wear as warm ups. The whole purpose of the warm up is to, duh, keep you warm so your muscles stay relaxed and what not. T-shirts dont do that. My other thought, which was the original thing that rubbed me the wrong way was the thought that the marketer or p.r. personal or whatever exec that came up with this idea probably thought it would be cool to rock "T-Shirts" because maybe they feel as though it represents Philly. REALLY? Is that what Philly is? T-shirts? Anyways, I even went a bit more into to refer to the commercial where the chick is proposing a plan to her boss to go green, and he wasn't trying to hear it until he saw how much money they were going to save. What I'm gettin at is hey, times are hard and maybe they just pitched this to the players so they could save money on material. Either way, I'm not really a fan of the T-Shirt look on the bench of a professional basketball team. They really look like my high school team out there when I played, and I find that to be ridiculous. If you're professional, act, dress and perform like it. The least of those and easiest to do is dress. But hey that's why it's a random thought and my opinion, what's yours?

Random Thoughts #3 Outdoor Shopping

So I work at the Phila Premium Outlets, which by the way, aint even in Philly, its in Pottstown and to be more exact, its in Limerick (EXACTLY). Anyways, not gonna lie, its a nice shopping center, granted the prices aren't exactly the best but in contrast to the area, which is right down the street from King of Prussia, the prices are where they should be. Anyways, there are a lot of nice stores here and you can find some great deals and add a ton of coupons together from time to time as well as talk the desperate sales hungry associates down. Only problem is, IT'S AN OUTDOOR SHOPPING CENTER. But here's the thing, that's my problem, because apparently people just don't care. Here it is, a week before black friday mind I add, freezing as all hell, and its packed up here. So, so much for that struggling economy, apparently people are treading through 40 degree weather just to spend money, so it can't be that bad. So if you don't mind the rain, sleet, snow and freezing weather, come to the Phila Premium Outlets and spend some money since people have so much...

Random Thoughts #2 Good with the Bad

So here we are officially two weeks past the history making election day and what have we seen. "The ugliest side of America." How sad. Kanye West told people a nice time ago that racism was still alive and people just swept it under the rug because at the end of the day white people like black was still making him rich buying his music. No, it took for what many thought was "The Impossible" to happen. So now that a Black (damn the african american crap because there are white african americans) Man is elected to run this great nation, for some reason, now is the time all these ignorant people choose to show their ignorance (you like how I did that don't you). Maybe its just me, but most time when people lose, they do get upset, but at the same time, they work harder for the next time. But that's the thing, we are talking about most people aka common sense having people, so I guess that settles it. The scary part is, these non-common sense having people actually have the right to shape our country, like the saying/song goes, "it takes every kind of people" or something like that. So with the good you got to have the bad, so with the history making event you have to have the ugliest of events, sad how that works.

Random Thoughts #1 NO FRIDAYS

So today is Friday and I've noticed this for some time now that, whether it be on the highways driving or on public transportation, their are really a lot of people that don't work on Fridays. Wasup with that. I know my right hand man doesn't but 1) he earned that and 2) he was never suppose to be in the office from jump according to his job description. I mean for those who are on the road and see the decrease know what I mean, it is really a significant amount of people that don't work on Friday. I'm not jealous, I just would really like to know what these jobs are that you never have to work on Friday and why that is?