• Board of County Commissioners: $666.82 (31%)
• Library: $113.91 (6%)
• School Board: $931.65 (46%)
• Water District: $32.14 (2%)
• Unincorporated Services: $31.88 (2%)
• Sheriff: $129.17 (6%)
• Fire Protection: $103.51 (5%)

So, the biggest amount seems, by far, to go to the School Board. I spend over $900.00 on public education– and being that I have no kids, I think that’s very generous of me. Of course, not realizing  this until now is completely my own fault. Honestly, I was simply surprised that almost 50% of my property taxes goes to local public schools.

Those of us with businesses are very familiar with ROI. Basically, it’s an analysis of your financial return based on your investment. With government taxes, there’s almost no way to think about this in a numerical value– at least, not for me. The money I pay into the fire fund, to me had a very good ROI. When my neighbor’s house caught on fire, the Fire Department came quickly and prevented the fire from spreading to other homes. To me, this is an easily seen positive ROI.

The Sheriff’s fee is an easy ROI for me– but I’m biased. That being said, both fire and law enforcement have a rather low percentage of my tax bill– yet when the shit hits the fan, they respond. Both of these agencies provide 365 x 24 x 7 coverage, are very visible, and respond quickly (if not immediately) to a call for help. I pay less in a year for fire and law enforcement to provide me with 24/7 emergency service than I do for a single visit to the ER. Not bad when you think in those terms.

Schools are a completely different beast. My ROI doesn’t seem to be easily realized. But again, this is my own fault. I don’t think I can name one person who ran for the school board last month. You think that I should probably pay better attention to those controlling so much of my tax bill. I know that I am not going to be so lackadaisical any more.

Of course, I wonder if those leaders are as financially sound and responsible as Alachua County Commissioner Rodney Long.

Gainesville Wedding Cakes and More

In case you haven’t realized, Yeni and I have opened a bakery in Gainesville, FL. We’ve named it Dream Day Cakes and, well, you MUST COME BY! First, let me tell you a little story.

Once upon a time, in the land of North Central Florida, there lived a boy named Fred Posner. Fred, a large, rotund, bald boy, loved eating, riding motorcycles, and living la vida loca. Not so much listening to La Vida Loca but actually living it. One day, while attending a wedding in Southern Michigan, Fred spotted a princess– a small, petite brown eyed princess. “One day she will be mine,” Fred thought to himself as he danced the sprinkler with other wedding guests. (Ironically, dancing the sprinkler at a wedding usually works to repel a princess)

After devouring the wedding cake, and drinking many alcoholic beverages, Fred summoned the strength to approach his princess and talk with her. He failed. Words were not his friend, but this was ok. English was not the princess’ friend, and it would take many years for the gods to make the star crossed lovers find their path. Six years to be exact.

Six years later, while not attending a wedding (or eating wedding cake)… Fred takes his stallion (a green Harley Davidson) and rides to the princess. The princess joins Fred and they ride off to the sunset, the petite princess secured behind the wall of a prince.

After getting married and returning to Gainesville, the princess decides it’s time to follow another dream and starts baking cakes. Her cakes are fantastic. Fred actually is moved to eat cake over cannoli. It’s a sign from the gods.

Fast Forward to now and you have…. Dream Day Cakes. A family owned cake bakery in Gainesville, FL proudly serving Ocala, Gainesville, High Springs, Lake City, and all of North Central Florida. From Wedding Cakes to custom sculpted masterpieces, Cakes do come true at Dream Day Cakes.

Visit us at http://www.dreamdaycakes.com.

Dream Day Cakes

A little self promotion never hurt… in theory.

I have great news. Yeni’s been baking now for well over a year and her cakes are simply amazing. Living in Gainesville provided us the perfect opportunity for Yeni to follow her dreams and try doing something she truly loves. And with that introduction, I introduce Dream Day Cakes — Gainesville’s newest Wedding Cake Bakery.

I’ve posted a few of the cakes before, and Guillo with o3b.com produced an amazing site for us. We’re very excited and looking forward to our new adventure.

Fight the fight or quit.

Soon, as in a couple of hours, Florida Governor Charlie Crist will announce a decision regarding his candidacy for the United States Senate. I’ve said it before, and let me state it again: I am a proud NPA (No Party Affiliation) Florida Voter. I have declared myself NPA my entire adult life, and I vote.

Although I voted for Crist for Governor, if he changes parties he will not receive my vote. He’s said before that he would run as a Republican. Then he said that he would “consider” running as an Independent.

Well, and forgive me for speaking to you personally Mr. Governor, here’s the thing Charlie. This is not a decision that you have to think over. This is simple. Either you have the cojones (balls) to run under your party or you don’t. If you are going to change your party, it’s being done for one reason — because you think you’ll lose.

Don’t spin this any other way. I imagine that if you change from the Republican party that you will attempt to spin it as the party no longer represents what you believe, or they’ve lost track, yatta yatta yatta.

To me, this is nothing short of bullshit. And this comes from someone with no love for the Republican party.

Either you have the cojones or you don’t. You started it as a Republican, and either fight the fight or quit. Changing your party affiliation will only prove to show that (1) you don’t believe you can win as a Republican and (2) that you’re already playing politics.

I want neither from my Senator.

So, Mr. Governor… you may very well have a better chance of winning the Senate seat as an independent— but you will do so without my vote.

And of course, I have no desire to vote for Rubio.

So, stand up. Fight the fight. Bring it. Do an 80’s style training montage and get ready… because if you say “I will not change. This is who I am and I will beat Rubio in the Primary and win the Senate.” you may just start gaining back the poll numbers that are clearly affecting you.

Tell me about you.

On a recent trip to Target, I decided to add some compressed air to my cart. Working in electronics, I find compressed air to be almost a necessity. The servers, computers, switches, and other equipment I use routinely need a good “spritz” of compressed air to keep the dust from accumulating.

But I digress.

When I went to check out, my cashier advised that I needed to scan my ID to purchase the compressed air. Not just show her my ID, but rather have my driver’s license scanned into their register. This of course allows Target to scan, read, and store my personally identifiable information. Although just someone’s full name fulfills the criteria of personally identifiable information, a Driver’s License barcode and/or magnetic stripe contains much more. By scanning the driver’s license, Target retains my full name, date of birth, address, gender, race, driver’s license number, license information (restrictions, endorsements), organ donation, and issue date.

First, let’s look at the obvious…

Why does Target need my Personally Identifiable Information?

When I was told that I was required to have my license scanned, I asked very simply, “why?” The cashier told me that Target required my age when purchasing the product. I told the cashier, that I’m almost 40 years old and asked how old I needed to be to purchase the can of compressed air.

While she called her manager (and told her that someone refused to identify themselves), she told me that the age restriction was 18. Let’s face it… I’ve posted pictures here. I’m not mistaken for a teenager. I haven’t been mistaken for a teenager in 20 years. Even though the cashier believed I was over the age of 18, she said she was not allowed to sell my the item without my driver’s license being scanned.

The manager arrived and very abruptly and confidently told me that I was required by law to scan my license. I told her that I knew of no such law and asked her if this was a Florida law or a Federal law? She called her Security team and told me, “the security guy said you can google it.”

I didn’t allow my ID to be scanned and I didn’t get to purchase the item. Incidentally, not once have I had my ID scanned for Alcohol (purchased at Target), R rated movies, or other items that are restricted by age.

Here’s the bottom line

There’s no reason that you should show or give your personally identifiable information to Target. Especially when they do not provide you with any information on how this information will be stored, protected, used, and shared. They did not provide any summary of Fair Information Practices or describe to any degree of cause as to why this information was needed.

The United States of America, at one point, greatly valued personal freedom. Sadly, this doesn’t seem to be the case today. I believe that your personally identifiable information needs to be protected, whenever possible. I don’t let people take my ID and walk away with it, and I won’t let Target scan it in their cash registers.

Instead, I’ll choose to no longer shop at Target.

• Painting, painting, painting. (4 parents, lots of paint, bottom line: house looks great)
• Met Sebastian
• Renewed the annual pass at Disney and got Yeni her Florida pass.
• Took the in-laws to St. Augustine.
• Posted about Spam on VoIP Tech Chat
• Actually posted a chat on VoIP Tech Chat
• Getting ready for the Voipathon
• and posted a few pics on Picasa

Thanks for stopping by.

While working away, managed to post some quick words:

• VoIP Tech Chat: Blackberry desperate? RIM announces FREE Blackberry Enterprise Server Express
• Team Forrest: SIP Response Codes (just for a quick reference)
• Fat Freddy Says: Updated Review for Nick’s Original House of Pancakes, Ann Arbor

Today, I received an email (posted below) from Florida President Bernie Machen asking for my voice. Seems they have created a new organization to lobby the Florida legislature for issues important to the school. To me, I am always offended when someone making 750k a year (including bonuses), gripes about a lack of funding. Simply put, Machen needs to lead by example.

A good leader demonstrates by example. If you want to discuss a lack of funding, how about first disclosing that you are one of the highest paid educators in the country. A good leader does not lead by having behavior that indicates a lack of personal responsibility. But then again, I started thinking Machen was not cut out for the job when he didn’t bother to attend a summer commencement .

Here’s the email:

Dear Gator Nation,

The Florida Legislature begins its 2010 session March 2nd, with another tight budget year expected. I want to take this opportunity to ask you to reach out to your elected officials in support of UF – and to remind you that we have an excellent organization to assist you.

Gators for Higher Education, created in partnership with the University of Florida Alumni Association, is a group of volunteers who contact their lawmakers at our request when the Legislature is considering issues critical to UF. The organization was extremely helpful to UF last year, when lawmakers considered and ultimately passed the tuition flexibility bill that is proving so important to UF during this era of cutbacks in state funding.

Support for our base budget is likely to be an issue again this year. Other UF legislative priorities include securing recurring funding for graduate student health insurance and the Florida High Tech Corridor Council, and medical school funding.

Whatever the issue at hand, we hope and anticipate that Gators for Higher Education will be just as helpful this spring as it was last spring. Both Florida and out-of-state residents are welcome to sign up, and there is no cost for participation. To learn more and to become a member, please take a moment to visit http://gatorsforhighered.ufl.edu.

Your voice, your connection to your local lawmakers and your loyalty and love for UF can all make a huge difference to this university. Thank you very much for your consideration. I look forward to working closely with the members of Gators for Higher Education this spring.

Sincerely,

J. Bernard Machen

Here’s the funny thing — I can’t. I’m not a registered Republican. You see, I’m NPA; because I vote for who I like, not a party. Anyway, I guess they feel that I would want to donate to Rubio. They’re wrong. And, an endorsement from Huckabee really is the icing on the cake. Sure, I don’t like Crist’s support of the stimulus, but I do like Crist.

Anyway, if you want, you can read the 5 page donation request here (huckacrap.pdf).

As expected, I did not receive a response and there was no mention of donations, declines, or anything else from Bernie Machen.

Fast Forward to 2009

Today the Gainesville Sun reports that Bernie Machen is donating $285,000.00 to a scholarship he created for students. Yes, it’s a nice thing, but is it the best thing and/or too little too late? Why did we need a new scholarship? Couldn’t any of the already existing scholarships have benefited from this money? And again, thank you Mr. Machen for donating this money– and yes, that’s an amazing tax write off you’ll get– but what about all the other bonuses you have received? It’s nice to hold a big press conference for this, but honestly, I still think he needs to do a lot more.

Anyway, this last weekend I:

• Celebrated mom’s birthday with my family (including my sister and our spouses)
• Had an AMAZING meal at Joe’s Stone Crabs (but, when do you not?)
• Celebrated Mother’s day with the family
• Worked a little in Boca Raton, FL
• Enjoyed a nice afternoon on the beach with my wife.
• Read some hilarious comments on the Gandy Dancer review

I’m looking forward to the drive up on Wednesday… love those Mountains.

Benjamin Franklin

I’ve always liked Mr. Franklin. Some think he’s the only non-president on money… but those people probably think Mr. Hamilton was once a president. Anyway, Benjamin Franklin is perhaps my favorite American in history. I love his quotes and many of his thoughts can guide us still today.

Today’s the following Benjamin Franklin quote comes to mind:

It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority.

Which brings us to…

Ann Arbor Parking

Ok, although I’ve lived in Florida for the past 20 years (and love it), my family is traditionally northern in attitude and heritage. Often my love of Florida is mocked with southern jokes and generalizations. And if Florida somehow makes the news, my phone won’t stop ringing. I still get ribbed over Elian Gonzalez, the 2000 election, Terry Schiavo, and more.

But what does Florida have to do with Ann Arbor Parking? Two words: Sunshine Law. The Sunshine Law provides public access to government (no closed doors, let in the “Sunshine”) and Florida takes this very seriously. Besides criminal and civil penalties for violating the Sunshine Law, it has become such a part of Floridan culture that it’s hard to imagine not getting easy access to public information. After all, this is why the news loves Florida. If something happens in the Sunshine State, it happens in the Sunshine.

Enter the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority. This publicly funded group receives their budget from taxes and parking fees. Oh, they also think I’m a security concern.

Yes, even though I have a very clean background (just ask the FBI), the A2DDA thinks I pose a security risk and have blocked my access to their website.

When I look at the list of things that my mom can be proud of, I think:

• Court expert on DUI and Marijuana
• Firearm “incident” in Gainesville
• and now, Security Risk to the Ann Arbor DDA

Thank you DDA for your hard work, and for bringing to mind this other Benjamin Franklin quote:

“We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid”

Which brings us to… (if you want to see more details on Fred vs. the DDA, click here)

Motorcycles

The weather in Ann Arbor warmed up enough to remove the ice and snow from the roads. And it’s been so long since I’ve seen a salt truck that Yeni and I decided to go for a quick ride on Saturday.

It was the first time I was able to ride since December and it took all the stress right from my face, replacing it with a smile.