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Business Consulting

I have been a small business administrator for over 20 years. I have worked with a local restaurant as well as run my own companies over the years.

I have a unique skillset that is geared for small businesses. I understand that asking for help is hard to do AND I understand that paying for it is also an issue for most small businesses with razor thin margins.

However, over the years, I’ve seen how much money I have saved the restaurant as well as myself and I think what I do is pays for itself easily with the money I save small businesses over all. I negotiate contracts (Comcast, ATT, gas, other vendors), I compare prices (vendor comps), I can spend my time holding on the phone with large companies and allow the business owner to run their business. I can charge by hour or by project – as much or as little as you need.

I have a very wide skillset that covers many disparate areas. Here are a few of the things I can do for you:
– light accounting with Quickbooks (checkbook, general journal, various reports)
– A/R and A/P bill handling
– light payroll (NOT filing taxes, but reporting employees’ hours, etc.)
– vendor comps
– inventory pricing
– vendor contract negotiations
– equipment sales or procurement
– social media management
– website design
– graphic design (signs, menus, biz cards, logo creation, truck wraps, whatever)

For more information and examples of the logos I’ve worked on over the years, please hop over to my business website: IndigoDragon Studios. You can email me at misangelaspam at gmail or message me on FB.

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2021 Reading List

Welcome to the 2021 Reading List! The list is in chronological order of when I read the books, but the first SIX are the ones carried over from 2020. Photos of books below the list. Books are moved up into the list as I read them.

Bird Box, J Malerman. The book is very close to the movie, but in several ways I think the movie was better. The movie put events in more of a linear fashion, which is easier to follow. But I’d say a good 85% of the book is represented in the movie and the movie is more suspenseful.

Sharp Objects, G Flynn. I liked this book a lot. I think the book is complementary to the mini-series on HBO with Amy Adams. The book is written from the main character’s (Camille, portrayed by Amy Adams) point of view, so you get a LOT more context about her. I also like the tweaks that the series made with Amma – she had MUCH more depth in the movie than she did in the book. Overall, a good read and excellent companion to the mini series.

Dry, Shusterman. This is a what-if type story: what if Southern California’s water really did run out? That’s the backdrop, but the story is about a small group of teens who must survive the breakdown of society that occurs in short order once the water stops. It’s a good paced read and all the action is in the space of just a few weeks. It ends on a good note, so it’s not one of those disaster books that leaves you wishing you’d not read it. Which is important at this point in time, I think.

I’ve read 25 books so far this year with 3 working now [July 20, 2021]. More behind cut! Continue reading “2021 Reading List”

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Looking for VSG/Bariatric info?

Hi there! If you’d like to see ONLY my extensive research on Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy, bariatric diet and managing GERD (reflux), you can filter out all my other posts and see just those by clicking HERE. You can see my vlogs about my VSG journey here.

To see any category (recipes, for instance), use the drop down menu to the right labeled “View Posts by Category” and select the category you’d like. Thanks for stopping by!

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My Theory About Current Events

We’ve dealt with nothing but pure bullshit for the last, what? SIX years?

First, we had T**** elected by the hillbillies. That was bad, umkay? Then we had the pandemic. That was worse, umkay!

But the thread for all the jackassery has been, for the most part, OLD PEOPLE. Not all the hillbillies are old, for sure, but it’s the old people that I had an epiphany about recently.

Boomers and older Gen Xers are the demographic that are the loudest and most devoted right wing extremists. I started wondering why that is. I had a conversation with a boomer lady who argued that I was wrong to vote Democrat. I told her, NO, she was the one in the wrong. We argued good-naturedly about this when I realised what I think the issue really is: inability to believe that America could possibly allow misinformation and propaganda to be spread by the news. She simply could not believe that misinformation was being used. (I do hold much contempt for old GenXers, however, since I AM ONE and I managed to navigate all the new tech and managed to CHANGE MY MIND about a lot of things, so they can, too. Assholes.)

Think about it. When they were growing up, they had Walter Cronkite READ THE NEWS without any opinionated input at all. The news was strictly facts, no slant, as much as possible. News reporters took pride in being neutral. Same with newspapers. Now, lies and bullshit have always gone on in the government, that will never change, but the news was dependable. Now think about how that has changed. Now you cannot believe any news source without vetting the information yourself. These old people can barely check email or use a smart phone. They have zero ability to vet news or social posts.

When you pair how they were raised, believing in the news as fact, and not understanding current tech, you can see the recipe for being easily led. I think they simply cannot wrap their heads around the new reality of news being pretty much all opinion at this point. They have no way to figure out what’s true and what’s propaganda since they aren’t internet savvy. So they believe what Fox News tells them. Because they really, truly, cannot discern the lies.

I am NOT giving them a pass, mind you, but I do feel that old people have some legitimate reasons for being so easily duped. Now, the young people who are raging hillbillies DO NOT GET A PASS OF ANY SORT. If you’ve grown up with the internet, you should be able to vet information just fine. There really is no excuse for anyone under 40 not being able to understand what bias is and how to combat it. These assholes are just militantly ignorant and wouldn’t believe the sky is blue unless a right wingnut said so. I’m not addressing this bunch, they are useless and not worth my time.

But the old people. Hmmm. There really is no way to convince them that they are believing lies, because THE NEWS tells them the lies. This covers Covid, too. They are told that the vaccines are useless by talking heads and they simply believe it.

I have no solution for this, but I think I get why they are acting like they do. Giving up the notion that THE NEWS would lie is just something they cannot do. Just as they refuse to learn technology, they also refuse to learn to question and be skeptical of what “news” is being disseminated. It’s just too much for them. They are overwhelmed with all the tech and they have a hard time simply navigating the every day world because of their lack of tech savvy. Everything is a chore to them: smart phones, computers, internet, it’s all HARD.

While I do get it, I also feel sad that they have reached their limits of being able to adapt. I went through the amazing tech changes from the 70s to now as a young person. It was relatively easy for me to adapt. I got into the tech world in 1995, so dealing with the internet has been second nature for me. I did have a pretty steep learning curve for computers, but I did it because I thought the internet was fascinating. In my opinion, other old GenXers could be as tech savvy as I am, or at least be able to change their minds and deal with the new norms.

I saw this resistance to tech with my mother years ago. She refused to use a computer even for typing because she’d been traumatised by DOS – which I totally understand. But she would not learn to use a simple Mac because of her bias against ALL computers. This is very, very common with Boomers. They are afraid of tech because they are not adaptable like younger people are. So they fall more and more behind. My mother watches TVLand all day because it’s all the programs she watched when she was a part of the world. She refuses to use a smart phone, although the excellent accessibility offered would make it very easy for her to use with her limited motion. She has cordoned off her existence and cannot interact with the outside world at all now. At least Boomers who still work (like the lady I was arguing with) are a bit more tech savvy, but they still have these limits of how far they’ll go with tech. Landlines and FAX machines are still important to Boomers.

As I said, I have no solutions to offer, I just wanted to toss out this theory about Boomers and older GenXers. I’ve thought about it a lot and this seems to be why they are the way they are. They are still wrong and misguided and all that, but I see no way to fix it. So I try to be a little bit patient with the Olds. Patience is not my thing, but I try. I will still fight against their misguided efforts to install fascism in order to keep their “values” intact, however. Fuck that. Things change, folks, you gotta roll with it.

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If I Leave Here Tomorrow

I just watched the Lynyrd Skynyrd doc on Netflix (If I Leave Here Tomorrow: A Film About Lynyrd Skynyrd, 2018) and it was excellent.

I learned a lot about the band and the crash that killed six passengers. For one thing, I did not realize that the plane was a medium sized prop, and that there were 20 some odd people on board. In my mind, it was a crash like Buddy Holly’s or Patsy Cline’s. But it was not, the plane was quite large and there’s still speculation about what happened. Some say it ran out of gas, but the surviving band members said that the engine was not right from the get-go. It was very sobering to hear the accounts of the crash from the surviving band members who were interviewed for this documentary. Only six people died of the almost 30 on the plane, so that is a good thing, but the band died that day for sure. Ronnie Van Zant, Cassie Gaines and Steve Gaines were integral to Skynryd – especially Ronnie, of course.

It was good to hear from the only remaining members of the band, well, really only ONE of the original is left: Gary Rossington. Johnny Van Zant has been fronting the band since the 80s, but he is not an original member (he’s Ronnie’s little brother). All the rest have since died. If you’re interested in the details, watch the doc on Netflix and read the Wiki entry.

As you all know, I’m from E TN, so Southern Rock was a big part of my formative years. I was a little too young for Skynyrd in their heyday, but they were a big part of my high school years, which happened a few years after the crash. All the boys in band were huge fans. One guy had tickets for the Knoxville show from that fateful ’77 tour. They were sacred to him. One of the guys also had the Street Survivors record with flames on it, original release. (They removed the flames after the crash.)

We listened to Skynyrd and Led Zeppelin about equally, along with plenty of Journey and for me Fleetwood Mac/Stevie Nicks and Pat Benatar.

I wish I’d seen Skynyrd in their heyday. I saw Rossington Collins Band for my very first concert – I think it was 1980 – so, that was part of Skynyrd, anyway. I remember the band boys dissing them for having Dale Krantz (female) as lead singer, which pissed me off.

What surprised me was the feelings hearing all that music brought up. It was a meaningful time for me, like all teens in High School. Hearing all that music brought back the times we sat in cars smoking and drinking, listening to Skynyrd. I’m not prone to nostalgia, so it’s a rare thing!

So, yeah. Interesting to me that I feel this way. I did not expect it! But, it’s true that music speaks to your soul, not your brain, so I guess I should’ve known it would affect me. I think I’m going to flesh out my Skynyrd collection.

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White Bean and Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

White Bean and Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
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White Bean and Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

I whipped this up on a whim and it is so good, I just had to jot down what I did! This is one delicious dip! No cooking required with this pantry staple recipe.
Course Appetizer, Snack
Cuisine Mediterranean, Middle Eastern
Keyword bean dip, hummus, party appetizers, party dip, roasted red pepper, tahini, white northern beans
Prep Time 10 minutes
Author misangela

Equipment

  • Food Processor or Blender

Ingredients

  • 1 14 oz can Great Northern beans any white bean is fine
  • 1/2 12 oz jar Roasted Red Peppers or two if you roast yourself
  • 1/2 cup Italian Cherry Peppers, about 5-6 often labeled sweet and hot peppers
  • 1 tsp EACH, juice from red peppers and cherry peppers double the cherry pepper juice if you roast your own peppers
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 Tbl tahini
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 2 Tbl olive oil (EVOO) stream in while puréeing
  • 2 tsp lime juice, about one lime to taste
  • S/P to taste

Instructions

  • Drain the beans and cut the roasted red peppers into 1" chunks. Mince garlic.
  • Put everything except olive oil into food processor and process on high until smooth.
  • Stream in EVOO with processor on.
  • When desired consistency is reached, add lime juice and S/P to taste.
  • This dip will firm up in the fridge.
  • Serve with EVOO on top. It is great with tortilla chips, crackers or crudité.
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The Fall of Afghanistan

So. Afghanistan. I agree with Biden’s decision to leave. I just don’t see what can be done at this point. It’s their civil war, it’s not our business to interfere. All we’ve done is stave off the inevitable for 20 yrs. It is a country of women and children. The men left yrs ago to escape death by the Taliban. It’s shitty.

I just read a book about what it’s like to live there and I don’t think we’ve done a damn thing to help in all the 20yrs we’ve been interfering. We’ve kept the Taliban from formal control of the government, but they still control the PEOPLE.

The book, if you’re interested in the plight of women in Afghanistan, is The Dressmaker of Khair Khana by Gayle T Lemmon from 2011.

I hate that the Taliban is going to get control, but there’s not a thing we can do about it. Best to just get out. Perhaps the men that left can band together to take back the country. I don’t know the answer, but I feel that it’s not our place to interfere.

The US has interfered with the Middle East since forever and look at the fucking MESS we’ve made. Also read Queen Noor’s book Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life if you’re interested in learning more about the Middle East and what has transpired there since the 70s. It ain’t pretty.

Afghanistan has been the hot potato for presidents for 4 administrations. At least Biden is willing to take the hit and do the right thing by getting out of there and letting that country mind its business. It is not our place to control a CIVIL war. We really need a Prime Directive. Sigh.

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Acupuncture for GERD #5

Didn’t feel all that great this morning, so I knew the session would be painful. YUP.

She left everything in place for twice as long as usual.

I am still on the same Death Tea™, which is not too horrible at least.

After a hard session, I usually feel tired, as I do today. So I’m going to take it easy today, do some light cooking and just chill.

I really wish my body was as compliant as Nick’s. He’s already feeling better after 3 sessions. ::sob::

Alas, my body is as stubborn as my mind, so onward we go with treatment.

SIGH.