Going Dutch, Trials of a Wage Slave, first video

I wrote "Going Dutch, Trials of a Wage Slave" after a lifetime of working in various industries.

It would be great to say that all employers are created equal and give their employees decent benefits, good working conditions, and pay them what they're worth.

Unfortunately, the employee, to many companies, is one of the most disposable of assets.

After all, there are plenty of people out on the street who will do the job for less.

If a company made an investment in training someone, why would they throw the employee's abilities and work experience out the door?

Too often it's a matter of short-term 'cost savings'. All done to boost the bottom line, impress investors and raise the stock price. Maybe the boss considers the employee a threat to their position.

In the end, the company usually has problems, but management is rarely to blame.

As long as the investors and upper management get to bail out with a profit, it doesn't matter that the employees lost their jobs and sometimes, their pensions.

First video/introduction

https://www.facebook.com/100009307213581/videos/1816640201989536/?fref=mentions

No Early Christmas Presents, O'Neil & Associates, Inc PSA next week.

Those of you who expected Christmas in February will be disappointed in me.

There will be no presents tomorrow. I have to work on a court filing which has a due date next week.

I may get another Public Service Announcement video in yet this weekend, but don't hold your breath.

My former employer, O'Neil & Associates, Inc. of Dayton, Ohio (ONA) still hasn't paid the Netherlands court judgment. The amount goes up in 5 days, so they should hurry and send the $.

The next ONA Public Service Announcement video will highlight Dutch court proceedings. How ONA tried to smear my name in court. They are such nice people, but I can't recommend them to anyone who's looking for employment.

Have a great weekend!

Dutch Court Judgment video, Part One Public Service Announcement

This is a raw, unedited video I did concerning the O'Neil & Associates, Inc of Dayton, Ohio, Dutch court judgment.

I've asked President Trump to stop paying O'Neil & Associates, Inc of Dayton, Ohio any Department of Defense money for projects which O'Neil is working on for any of the branches of the United States military.

I apologize about the quality of this video, but I'm working under difficult conditions.

Found out that the video file is too large for this site. Here's the link to YouTube:

https://youtu.be/vvLAL5Avkq0

You don't have to believe me. Check out O'Neil & Associates, Inc of Dayton, Ohio on www.glassdoor.com  

https://www.glassdoor.com/Overview/Working-at-O-Neil-and-Associates-EI_IE646373.11,32.htm

My Dutch Court Judgment Against O'Neil & Associates of Dayton, Ohio

I'm going to be uploading videos and photos about my attempts to enforce the Dutch court judgment I received against my former employer, O'Neil & Associates, Inc of Dayton, Ohio. I'm doing this as a public service.

It's my opinion, based on my experiences working with O'Neil & Associates, Inc. that this company needs to be investigated by the United States government. My research has included speaking with former employees who were harassed, intimidated and discriminated against by this company.

This is a company that does Department of Defense work. They are being paid with American tax dollars. It's time to ask our government to check into this company's operations.

To follow is a copy of the monthly billing that I send O'Neil & Associates, Inc of Dayton, Ohio.

As you can see, at this time this billing is for $240,974.52 US Dollars. This is the billing for the month of January 2017.

For those of you considering working for this company or hiring them for services you might need, I recommend checking their reviews on www.glassdoor.com.  You might find it interesting.

Into the New Year

Like an old car with a weak battery, I'm hard to crank over when it's cold outside. Once I get started, I can run with the best of them.

The past few weeks have been taken up with research for the books I'm working on and doing the agent hunt dance.

When I get away from the keyboard I've been helping a neighbor repair his barn roof. Which is not exactly the type of activity most people engage in during the winter months. It's more of a spring, summer, fall kind of job, which you don't want to fall down on. Tied to a safety rope while sliding across the 45 degree slope of a 60 year old barn is not a leisurely situation. Sure it's not mountain climbing, but then I'm not living in the mountains.

I'm running roofing screws down through crusty tin and corroded aluminum panels, securing them to weathered wood which is more rot than wood in some places. It's a good thing that I'm not too heavy at this time in my life.

Anyone else might go through the roof. Which as those of you who have experienced the vertigo, acceleration and then abrupt deceleration of any fall knows that it's not how it happens, but what lies between you and the ground that can hurt you.

It's good, old fashioned, physical work and it pays off in keeping me sharp plus giving my balance and muscles a work-out. My 80 year old neighbor appreciates it and it keeps his barn roof together.

Getting my mind off my writing brings me back to the computer refreshed and ready to get on with the project at hand.

Variety is the spice of Life

And trying to decipher what people are doing in Hollywood or any of the other entertainment capitals of the world is a job in itself.

I've been to the Big Apple, tried on Tinsel Town, worked in Europe and came back here to the hills.

Why?

No matter what, your life is only as good or bad as you make it.

I've done a variety of jobs in my life. All to the best of my ability. Why do shoddy work?

When working for companies or even doing odd jobs for local people, I keep one thing in mind.

If we make a deal, then I will keep it. Sure there are times when circumstances intervene and projects are delayed or outright cancelled. These can be adjusted for and arrangements changed to meet the problem.

It's when I do a job, then get short-changed by someone who thinks that they're conning me that I try to politely deal with the situation.

It could be something as simple as finding out why they think like they do or as complex as trying to enforce a written contract.

If you take my time or my work, that's theft.

No matter how you do it.

Mark Twain aka Samuel Clemens on Slavery of all types

It's amazing what is written in some books.
Hidden away to jump out at you.
Literary ambush.

I expect to find a sci-fi tale of time travel into the past (A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court) but discover that Mr. Clemens has hidden discourses on the stock market, employment, social attitudes and military matters in the book.

Would you be surprised that he's spent many pages on the various forms of slavery?

Mr. Clemens would be disappointed to see our current conditions.

In which slavery has been taken to a new level.

Economic bondage for the majority.

Can I get you a loan for that bauble you desire?

You'll just love the arrangements and it'll only leave you indebted for life.

Slavery without the chains is still bondage.

Don't Tread on Me

Life is full of surprises.

I try to be polite when dealing with people I don't know. You never know who they might be or what they're up to.

Unfortunately, we have a few people on this planet who haven't adjusted their attitudes to calm, they're too busy bullying others. It's obvious in the current relationships that some countries have with the USA. Everyone is jockeying for position, trying to be the controlling factor.

Power is an elusive quantity. it comes in many forms, from economic to military to spiritual. Money, might and doing right. All can be corrupted.

At this time, money has been a defining factor for many groups to use to wield power. It's a fluid item, able to be flowed where the most good, from the point of view of those using it, can be done. The most good for their agenda, not necessarily the good of the rest of the community, be it local or worldwide.

Down through the ages, there has been a much more powerful force that money. It's been a factor in shaping the world we now have because it's timeless.

That's the power of the word.

I found that out yesterday when someone tried to pick a fight with me.

He evidently felt that he could threaten to beat me up and I'd just cower and fold.

I told him one thing, to get the point across.

"No."

He was surprised, but he backed off and left the property.


"No"

It's what we need to tell the people who've manipulated the news, the government and information outlets that they're now using to further agendas for their personal power groups.

We had a flag in this country many years ago. It had a simple motto:

Don't Tread on Me"

Any questions?

Time to Launch the 'New' Video

It's been fun, the past 6 weeks. The weather went from too hot to too cold and I've still got a Sable sitting in the barn, unpainted. To say that I've not had time to work on the blog would be an understatement.

Still working on my short story series, doing updates on "Going Dutch, Trials of a Wage Slave" and working on the video script for my public service announcement.

Watching the "Occupy Wall Street" movement has been fun. What took them so long to realize that we have all been getting ripped off for the past 40 years. I could go into the history of how our social structure has been tuned to benefit certain parties, but that's a subject for another time.

Will update the blog when the video is up on YouTube.

Sweltering at the Ranch Has Stopped

Yeah, been a few months or more. This summer qualifies as 'Hell on Earth, the Un-Cool Version'. Don't know how it's been for you, but the weather has been nuts, either too hot, too much rain or wind or....

Too hot to paint, without a temperature and humidity-controlled paint booth. If the paint doesn't fog, the painter will drip sweat into it. So, it's a no-win situation, until the temp comes down to around 80F. Scuffed the Sable's rear quarter backing it into the barn, so just now getting around to fixing that mistake. Should be ready to paint next week, but I've sung that song before.

Farm work never stops. The baby bull, Rascal, is now almost as big as his momma and his cousin, Spunky, isn't far behind. It's funny how an 800 pound animal can act like a puppy, not realizing that he can bulldoze you like a blade of grass, if he gets upset.

Writing? I'm doing plenty of it. Got a couple of projects going, not including the new video work. Stay tuned.

Other than that, welcome to the wonderful fall weather, hurricanes included. Please keep all hands and feet inside the ark.

All the best,

Tom

Full Moon and Spring

What a week.

Put paint on the Mercury Sable and did something I haven't done in years. Ran the paint till it dripped, like I'd never painted a car before in my life! Can't remember when this happened last but it made for lots more work. Spent yesterday sanding the drips down and will spend part of today sanding the rest of the car. It's like starting all over again.

The weekend was interesting, if not educational. Saturday I went to a class in "Lead Safety, Removal, Renovation and Painting". After the class, all I can say is, 'invest in plastics'. You'll need lots of plastic, as in tarps, gloves, etc. to comply with the federal regs on removing old paint in houses built before 1978. Or you could just bulldoze the place.

Got an email from an old high school buddy, hadn't heard from him in, well we won't go into ancient history, but it's been a long time. He's been doing stuff I wish I had pursued, but we can't do everything in this life, try as we may. I don't know if I can even mention what he's been doing, will have to wait and see what's allowed to be discussed. Yes, folks, that's the way the government works. You have no need to know.

The full 'super' moon was a sight to see this weekend. Took some photos and shot some video of it, for the record book. Will have to wait and see if we experience any earth shakes in the next few weeks. Doesn't look good for the short term.

Other than that, enjoy this new start to the year. It's been great here, 80 degree weather, the pear tree is in full bloom (very early) and I'm looking to get the rototiller out and churn up the garden plot.

Now all I have to do is watch out for the snakes.

Into the Spring

Busy, too swamped with work and literally flooded in the lowlands around here to have time to post on the old blog.

Will increase the blog posts, starting with coverage of the books that I've read over the past few months.

That will have to wait until I get this weekend out of the way. Going to get the Mercury Sable finished off, primer it and look to paint it next week, when the weather finally breaks into the 70's.

As for the folks out there who are dealing with the employee/employer issues and worker rights, I'll be putting up some comments on my 01Wage Slave blog.

It's going to be an interesting year!

Would Chuck Wood for Work

Otherwise, I can't wait to chuck winter for spring.

You been having a nice, mild winter? Not here. I've been playing lumberjack most of this winter, in conditions that are common up North, but downright aggravating here. I've cut and split enough wood for three 'regular' winters and it's not over yet.

I expect 50 degree weather this time of year, not highs of around 30. Which is the normal low temp overnight.

So, this past week, we went from highs in the upper 20's to temps now in the lower 70's! Great weather to catch the flu.

Posting here has been spotty, at best.

It's a good thing that I don't have access to the internet on a full time basis or I'd get nothing done on my writing or around the farm.

Love the internet, great source of info, etc., but it makes me want to comment on things that I should leave alone.

So, it's back to the shop, where a Sable awaits me. Time to put paint on it and ship it down the road. Then it will be tractor maintenance time.

Believe me, I look forward to a nice, relaxing hour or two in front of my computer, working on my writing. Some people think it's a grind, but they should try manual labor for a while.

Then they would appreciate how easy it is to give your opinion on things you aren't going to change without making a real, physical effort.

Back to work, wage slaves.

Communications, interrupted

I've been working, on the farm and writing projects. The "farm" includes car/equipment work, not to mention the typical farm activities.

Don't know if it's been the heat causing stress on the fruit and nut trees, but I've been having limbs break and even had our largest pecan tree split down one side, about one third of it cracked off and fell into the garden. Lots of firewood, but I hated to see the tree break apart like that.

As for the Great Agent Search. Just received an email from a friend in Australia. She complained of sending me emails for the past couple of weeks...and they were 'bounced' back to her.

If you're an agent and have had this happen, please resend. I really hate to send email after email to a person, in the hopes that the ISP or whatever is causing the problem gets their act together.

Otherwise, I'm gearing up for fun.

It's going to be a great Fall season!

Then the Rains Came

June is one of those 'benchmark months'.

I try to have the garden in, equipment repaired, a book done and out to agents, things of that sort.Thought I would have more done by now, but the monsoon-type weather we have had over the past 6 weeks has slowed me down.

The floods of May have left everything down here in a quagmire state. The garden is so wet that it's more mud than dirt.

Working at the shop can be a bit nerve wracking. It's an all metal building and welding during a thunderstorm isn't a good idea. The Baja Bug and Yanmar tractor projects are slowly getting done.

So, I've read a bunch of books and worked on my videos. Will be posting them to Youtube next week.

I'll also be adding some comments to my posts on the Richard Clarke cyberwar books.

Agents of Change?

Having fun, sending emails to literary agents. Which seems to take forever.

Please bear with me, the Internet isn't as fast out here as it is in the cities. As I've mentioned before, I had better Internet access in the Netherlands, 10 years ago. Even my neighbors, who just moved here from Nashville, complain about the service. No, they're not on dial-up, cable's not available, so they're using satellite. Which is pretty slow out here.

Yesterday, heard Bob Edwards Weekend's final chapter of "The Future of Publishing" series. Which sounds like it's going to keep changing, now more rapidly then ever.

Wonder how it's going to affect literary agents?

Everyone in the publishing game is now having to deal with the Web. Twitter, blogs, e-books, websites, all things that didn't exist 10 years ago.

Is the best thing to have a daily video of you reading your book? A podcast for those who are driving or otherwise busy? Followed up by a link to your blog/website where a reader can download a PDF file of your lastest chapter? With a 'donate to the starving writer' button for that all important PayPal account?

Will the writer be able to directly access the reader, without the need for publishers, agents and managers?

Stay tuned, it's all changing.

On the Vine...OR Maybe It Isn't

Just joined Newsvine.

Read the article by Eve Tahmincioglu about contract work. Here's her article:
"Need a job, contract work could be new normal"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36826679/ns/business-careers


Then posted a comment about it, after I stopped laughing. (It beats crying about it.)

Don't know if it shows up on my new site. It's at http://tsegerson.newsvine.com/

Left another comment about 'contract work' here in the U.S.A. at http://www.%2001wageslave.blogspot.com/

I'm not worried, the rest of the country is now starting to catch on to what's really going on in the American workplace.

They can't keep telling tall tales to the Wage Slaves. We may look dumb, but we ain't stupid.

It ain't a pretty sight, what's going on in the workplace.

Wanna eat this year?

Get that garden in now.

What's Down For Now

Me and "THE TREE"

It was a tremendous lightening bolt followed by a deafening crash of thunder that brought me out of the house and onto the porch last year. Bits of bark were scattered across the porch. I picked one up, it still steamed a bit.

Across the road, the large red oak had a stripe down it where the bark had been stripped off by the lightening strike.

My neighbor decided to have the tree cut down, since it was too close to their house and posed a threat of crushing it if it fell. A very real danger down here, since we have tornadoes and high winds in the Spring.

It's an old tree. We haven't been able to figure the age yet, but it's got to be close to 100 years old. I did a rough measurement on it and it's about 4 feet across and 80 feet tall. Or it was 80 feet tall.

So far, it's taken me over a week to cut the smaller branches off and work down to the big stuff. I'm talking limbs that are over a foot in diameter. Lots of tree left to process.

Most of it will wind up as firewood, keeping the old home warm when the cold winds blow.

The trunk, that's another story. I've always wanted to carve a large chair. Something about 10 feet tall, big enough for two people.

That or about a dozen nice coffee tables.

April, Who's Getting Fooled?

Time flies by, when you're working all the time.

I've been doing farm work, started the outline for the follow-up to the novel I just finished. Shouldn't say 'finished' because there will be revisions, edits, etc. when it gets sold to a publishing house. Let's just call it done for now. Doing the 'waiting on the agents' thing.

Dragged the Baja Bug off the trailer the other day. Can't believe it'll be 30 YEARS in June since I bought the beast. It was a typical, simple, red VW Beetle at that time. Got it from the second owner. The car has sat for about 10 years now. Stored while I worked in Europe and haven't had time to do any work on it since I've been back here. Too many other toys and irons in the fire.

May start yet another blog, to follow the rebuild work on the Baja Bug. I'll get some photos up in the next week or so. I started a video the other day to document the rebuild process. I've only built, rebuilt, modified, customized about two dozen VWs in my life, so I should have it looking good in time. Notice I didn't specify how much time...

Other than that, just enjoying the July weather in April. This can't be good, no matter how much we all love it. If it stays this way, will it be 130 in July?

I got a nice start on a sunburn yesterday, rototilling the garden with the tractor, before I realized that I was turning into a TOMato.

Enough of the bad puns, later.

For My Next Act...

Yeah, a couple of weeks, I'll be back.

How about just shy of a year, by a couple of weeks?

That's the thrills, chills and headaches of writing, researching, editing and rewriting a novel.

It doesn't help when the agents/publishers decide that anything over 125,000 words is too long. I was at 136,000 words when I got the news by reading the blogosphere.

Back to cutting, rewriting, restructuring the book. I'm not complaining, because I'm convinced it improved the book, immensely.

Now it's time to find an agent. Which, from what I've heard, is much harder work than writing the book.

Yes, I've started writing the next book.

It's what I do.