Yeah, I seen this little feller......

Why is it that good 'ol boys are the ones the news media always approach first when they want an eye-witness account of a disaster?  Most haven't shaved in months, they're wearing ripped shirts with holes them, and they rarely have time to put their teeth in, things apparently happening so fast.

"Uh, yeah, well, I seen this little feller just floatin' down the street, holding on to his beer cooler for dear life, chasin' his house as it floated away.  He was yellin', 'Mavis, you and little Elvis get up on the roof and keep a look out for gubment helicopters.'"  

"Ever thang worked out OK as he saved his beer and his house got jambed under a bridge about a half mile down the road. I think it was Old Milwaukee.  The beer, I mean."

Not long after K and I met we were talking and she asked, "Have you ever been on TV?"  I was at first a bit taken back as I'm well groomed, my shirts are in excellent condition, and I have all my own teeth.  

"Sure, lots of times.  Why?  Did something blow up?  Are we going to be on TV?  What did I miss?"

"No, just curious.  When were you on TV last?"

"About 3 years ago.  There's a real estate show that nobody watches on Sunday mornings and I was featured.  The camera crew took shots of the neighborhood, the interior of one of our homes, then we (the drop-dead gorgeous TV lady and I) sat out in the back yard and talked, with the golf course and little lake in the background."

To me the obvious follow-up question should have been "how did you do" or "were you nervous" or maybe "did people stop you on the street later and say they saw you on TV?"  (good, no, and no)

Nope, not K.  Her only question was, "What did you wear?"

What did I wear?  Huh?  

I don't remember what I wore 3 days ago, much less 3 years ago.  All I'm sure of is I wasn't buck naked.  Beyond that I have no clue.

Chalk it up to one more of those differences between men and women.  ;)

S

Miscellany

I swear, when I parked next to this nice Aston Martin Vantage I thought I heard him say, "DOH!  I coulda had an Audi A3 Sportback."  (Five of 'em, actually :) 

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Yesterday evening I saw a flock of geese flying south in their classic V-formation.  WooHoo!  It's a good sign.  A VERY good sign.  

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I understand former Secretary of Treasury (under Bill Clinton) Larry Summers has taken his name out of consideration for Federal Reserve Chairman.  Good.  He and his little puppet buddy Tim Geithner (Obama's first Sec Treas) were most often seen scurrying around Washington licking the shoes of the Big Bankers.  Geithner has said "no thanks", too.

Summers in particular helped put in place the laissez-faire financial deregulation back in the '90's that gave us "derivatives" and credit swaps which later nearly bankrupted the whole world.  Put them permanently out to pasture ASAP, please.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Count on it.

S

I can see a light in the tunnel. I hope it's not a train!

Whew....our move is 98% complete.  Not surprisingly, Murphy reared his ugly head and made things twice as hard as they should have been.

It's just like this, except substitute the T-Mobile building across the street for Lake Como.

Several earlier comments asked why we were moving so soon as we had just gone through this 18 months ago.  The answer in one word, in one letter actually, is K, as in K, my spousal unit.  She has been nagging pestering requesting an apartment with a patio or terrace for quite a while, and when a nice one became available, I jumped at it, convinced by the bayonet in my back that it would be a good thing.  

Now that the move is complete I will agree, it IS a good thing.  At this stage in my life, since it's just the two of us, I have completely embraced the idea of renting vs owning another home.  It feels sooooo good to NOT have a to-do list anymore.  Our little community is new, very nice, with lots of (the usual) amenities like gym, pool, party room, etc, and even a guest suite on premises for overnight guests to use.

We briefly considered buying a townhome (we found a really nice one), but then K heard that with a creek not far away and with lots of open greenbelt area nearby, snakes would be out poking around.  Heehee!  Bye-bye townhome.  :)

The move should have been a piece of cake:  SIL Donnie and I had to pick up furniture 6", put it on a furniture dolly, and wheel it down the hall, up the elevator, and into our new digs on the 3rd floor.  Wham, bam....2-3 hours....done.  Hah!

First, the dolly's I bought at Lowe's must have been for moving boxes of feathers.  When you put some weight on them they would barely roll.  Chinese-made wheels, no doubt.  Then the upright dolly had a tire that wouldn't hold air, so I had to buy a new tire.  UGH!

And finally, at one point, the elevator closest to us broke.  We had to wheel stuff to the other side of the building and use that elevator, making the trip twice as long.  Maintenance was able to "reset" our elevator and get us going again, but that's just how things have gone for me these past 3 days.

But now we're in, everything is in it's place, and all I have left to do is hang a few more pictures.  The terrace really is pleasant, just large enough for 2 chairs and 2 small tables, plus the dog's bed.  Early morning's are so nice out there.  :)

Today is pretty much dedicated to R & R, then tomorrow it's back to work.  Bro and I are finishing a big home over this next week or so, and then I can get back to perfecting my retirement.  

Life ain't half bad, you know?  :)

S

And just FYI, AT&T Uverse cable/internet is top shelf!

Moving is like watching a train wreck in slow motion

Our move has gone completely off the tracks.  OMG, what were we thinking?

Actually our new apartment will be quite nice....when we get it all put together.  It's noticeably larger than our old apartment, and as it's more of a "loft" style it's much more open.  Yesterday SIL Donnie came over and helped me get all the furniture moved.  He was absolutely indespensible!  Thanks Donnie.  Now it's just trip after trip after trip bringing over the little stuff.

I have become such a minimalist.  I don't care how much stuff I sell, give away, or throw away, I still have too much.  The one good think to come of this so far is we have discovered that AT&T uVerse is light years ahead of Time Warner Cable.  We should have changed years ago.

Back to it.  Have a good day everyone.

S

Not good. Here's why....

According to a recent study by two really smart egghead economists, the rich got even richer in the past year.  Their numbers show that the top 10% of Americans took home over 50% of all income in this country, the highest concentration of wealth since 1913.  Breaking it down further, the top 1% brought home 22.5% of all income, the highest since the years right before The Great Depression.  *red flag!*

The top 1% saw their wealth increase by 20% from two years earlier, while the top .001% saw theirs increase 32%.  The authors point out that much of that increase was the result of special tax advantages the rich enjoy.  In contrast, the other 99% saw theirs increase by just 1%.

I'm not making a moral judgement here.  You can make up your own mind on that.  But what I am saying is that when this much wealth is concentrated in the hands of so few, the few cannot come close to spending it fast enough to generate new production, necessitating new hiring.  

A million people with $1 each could buy a million $1 widgets, requiring the widget factory to ramp up to make those one million widgets.  One wealthy person with $1M would have no need for a million widgets.  A hundred, or even a thousand....maybe.  But not a million.  Production at the widget factory would languish, meaning no new hiring.

This principle x cars, houses, washing machines, iPads, ceiling fans, etc, is what drives our economy.

Do you see where this is going?  The struggling 99% will more than likely have to resort to taking on more debt in order to make ends meet, even on an austerity budget.  The debt bubble will grow and grow until it eventually does what all bubbles do.

To make a fortune due to superior intellect or plain old fashioned hard work is good.  To make a fortune simply because the tax code gave you a wink and a nod will ultimately backfire and take us all down.  Again. 

Think.

S

Well played, Pootie-Pooh

It should show up on YouTube any second now and is sure to go viral....Russia's Vladimir Putin tap dancing all over Barack Obama's face.  Admit it Barack.  Students for years to come will be doing their Doctoral Dissertations on the many ways you botched your handling of the Syrian mess, and in contrast how Putin aced his opportunity.

Surely Barack understands the American people are tired of 10+ years of war, throwing our youth and our money into efforts to civilize those Heathens of the East.  There was no way in hell we were going to look kindly on picking a fight with Syria.  

If he had really wanted to punish Syria for their use of chemical weapons he would have just cold-cocked them like Presidents Reagan and Clinton did when they found someone kicking them in the shins:  Executive Order....no telegraphing your intentions....no hand-holding with Congress....just BAM!  Some quick strikes, done.

Instead President Obama popped off and drew a line in the sand, then realized he couldn't cash the check his mouth had written.  "Aw, come on Congress.  Jump in with me.  Then when it all hits the fan I can say, 'Hey, they said it was OK.'"

By contrast Vladimir Putin has pulled a rabbit out of his hat, coming across as a peacemaker.  Imagine that!  Pootie-Pooh, a man of peace.  Ha!  Not only is he getting Syria to put their chemical weapons under international control (really?), but he's putting some of his elite Spetsnaz commandos in to "advise" / fight the Syrian rebels.  That civil war is FINIS.  No one is going to back the rebels now....they're a losing cause.  Assad wins.

Vladimir Putin has effectively baled out Barack Obama.  He doesn't have to press for a vote in Congress that he would have lost anyway.  And we don't have to throw another few hundred million dollars (BILLION dollars?) that we don't have into that sewer we call the Mid-East. 

A lame-duck President has just become even more lame.  Don't look for anything else of importance to come out of his administration for the remainder of his term in office.  He'll take credit for a gradually improving economy, but really he's just along for the ride.   That will be his last hurrah.  He's spent.

Game, set, match;  Pootie-Pooh. 

S

She was in her element

My experience yesterday reminded me of the play I saw years ago called Defending the Caveman.  Basically it was just an amplification of the "men are hunters, women are gatherers" theme.  K could have been the female co-star....except it was a one-man show.

Yesterday K went to a department store for some clothes shopping.  What an eye opener!  I don't know how women do it.  How do they even know where to start to look for anything?

A man goes into a department store, he finds everything is all together on the second floor in the northeast corner.  He wants a suit, it's on the second floor, in the northeast corner.  He wants underwear, a belt, a shirt....it's on the second floor, in the northeast corner.  

A man goes in to buy a pair of pants, he goes straight to the second floor, northeast corner, buys his pants, and leaves.  Ten minutes, tops.

A woman goes into a department store, she finds the petite-casuals on the first floor, northwest corner.  Plus-size business attire, second floor, southwest corner.  Summerwear, scattered all over the first floor. Petite-business wear is on the first floor, south side of the building.  Eveningwear?  Try the second floor, behind the double doors, southwest corner.  Close out specials....first floor by the exit doors.  On and on....

*whew*

And once she buys what she went in for, SHE KEEPS SHOPPING FOR THE SAME THING SHE JUST BOUGHT!  Why?  She just bought it.  Go home.

Oooooooh no!   The game has just begun.  Now it's to the other end of the mall to start the same treasure hunt all over again, different store.  And of course she finds something she likes better than what she bought at the first store, which necessitates a return trip to the first store for the obligatory merchandise return.  Apparently a shopping trip isn't a success unless she returns something.  

So if the second store ALWAYS has something better than anything the first store has to offer, why not just make THAT the store you go to first? 

I know I could speed up the process by at least 60%, but when I try to offer my constructive criticism K calmly turns towards me, smiles, and says, "Look at you.  Now look at me.  Go wait in the car."

Yes dear.  :)

S