Depressing News-I think

More good news, we now learn that as many as 20% of young American adults have mental problems in the form of personality disorders, although I have to say walking around a shopping mall and observing the various machinations, tattoos and body piercing tempers my shock at this revelation.

Obsessive or compulsive disorders and anti-social behavior top the list and are said to lead to substance abuse and violence. What do we have to look forward to when these twenty-something’s grow up, assuming of curse they ever do?

As with most such studies, while just released it is based on interviews in 2001 and 2002 so we have a fair chance that things have gotten worse, what with our Islamist friends blowing up people like a 300 bowler, September 11 and now the meltdown of the world economy. See, I told you it was more good news.

Full employment for lawyers is a given, but now we seem bound and determined to apply the same standards to psychologists and psychiatrist. The problem is you can’t find one when you need them even now.

Is this 20% rate for personality disorders new, who knows, but I suspect society has been generating the depressed and obsessive for sometime, we may now just be better at coming up with new labels. I wonder if that bully I knew in grammar school was really suffering from ADD.

Progress is often defined in the eye of the beholder, and one expert thinks people are over diagnosed for this stuff, but again who the heck knows? One thing is for sure though, 20% of the population appears to have yet another excuse to explain away its failings.

One the other hand, my wife is convinced I am obsessed with this laptop and my Blackberry ®. I must admit if I was left with only the papers to read and the TV news to view, I would likely be more depressed than I am over the state of the world.

December 2, 2008

I Miss

As I have just passed into official status as a seasoned citizen having reached the age for Medicare eligibility, I am thinking of all the things I miss from the past. No doubt each person would have a very personal list of such things, but we may share some longings.

I miss the smell of burning leaves in the fall; I can still close my eyes when the leaves are bright red and orange and smell that rustic aroma. I remember too when a car equipped with one of those catalytic converters parked over a pile of leaves in the gutter and burned to a crisp (actually that was about 15 years ago).

I miss going to a White Castle ® hamburger stand on a Sunday after church, helping my father flash the lights on the car to call the car hop who took our order and returned with a tray to hang on the car door with our burgers, fries and orange soda, and I surely miss hamburgers at 12 cents each. I could eat a dozen at a sitting back then, but my parents limited me to six; hey $1.44 was $1.44 back in 1955.

I miss pea shooters, not sure why, as my mother was dead set against them with the proverbial warning that someone was going to get hit in the eye, but at only ten cents a piece we were able to acquire them with little effort, it was finding the right kind of pea that was a challenge.

I miss dirt bombs. It seems that small boys can’t help but be fascinated by soldiers, in my youth I had hundreds of tiny rubber soldiers and their requisite equipment. I would play for hours in the dirt in front of the apartment where we lived. Ultimately, you cannot have even a make believe war without violence and that is where the dirt bomb comes in. Dirt bombs are simply chunks of dry dirt that when thrown, explode into small pieces and in the process give off “smoke” in the form of fine dust billowing in the air. You have to admit that is a measure of violence we can all live with. My fascination for soldiers and war ended while in the army in 1968 and 1969.

I miss going to the Jersey shore each summer Saturday morning at 6:00 AM with my grandparents to fish at Manasquan Inlet. My grandfather insisted that my grandmother come each time even though she didn’t fish. She spent the day in the car (a Packard) reading or knitting. I never thought she enjoyed the weekly trek, but I was a kid what did I know. We never caught many fish except once when we did catch a few dozen blowfish of major size, at least in the eyes of a twelve year old.

I miss holidays when decorating was actually fun and simple and the tree was circled with homemade ornaments from school including those paper chains. I miss going to relatives for a holiday meal, and they did all the work.

I miss the ammonia smell of my mothers home perm kit and the little paper and rollers she used to make he self beautiful for relatively little money. In fact, I don’t miss that smell at all; it seems as vibrant today as it did then.

I miss my fish tanks and my thriving business selling baby Black Mollies when I was fourteen. As I recall I sold about a dozen.

I miss seeing kids being creative in the process of making money. My parents never could afford an allowance so we found ways to make money. We collected empty soda bottles at the park, (yikes environmentalism in the 1950s) and received a nickel for a large bottle and two cents for regular size. We shined shoes in our apartment, raked leaves, shoveled snow and put on plays and carnivals and sold tickets for a nickel a piece to others kids and family.

Come to think of it, I miss a lot of things, but the present is pretty good too. Someday many years in the future I hope to look back and miss the beach on Cape Cod with my small grandchildren, or my wife and I traveling around the world or simply walking among the trees, or even my granddaughter’s “Poopy Pa, Change me.” I guess by then I will really be old.

Most of all I hope I remember.

Unintended Consequences- Real Bad

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

The Atlantic City City Council recently delayed the implementation of a smoking ban in NJ Atlantic City Casinos, too much pressure from the industry it appears as they make their case for the continuation of smoking. Their argument says simply that they will lose business if people cannot smoke. But one has to wonder where will they go?

If you want to gamble, but you can't smoke, will you give up the slots? I rather doubt that, just as people still go to bars and restaurants that are smoke free or stay in hotels that are smoke free. Stroll the aisle of any casino and you will stumble over the well-seasoned citizens with their oxygen tank and their walker nearby.  Eliminate the disabled parking and ban gambling with the monthly Social Security check and you might have a problem attracting customers, but the logic of arguing against a smoking ban inside any building escapes me.

Look at it this way, if you stop smoking you will likely be able to gamble more, you will live longer and have more money to throw away in a casino, everyone wins. Did ya think of that Donald?

October 9, 2008

I’ve Got Gas!

Yesterday I went looking for gas of my car.  First, I went to my regular station and found that Exxon Supreme was $3.89 a gallon, the day before it was $3.79.  I was annoyed so I said the heck with this and went on my errands when I passed another Exxon station, what’s up with this, Supreme was $3.99 a gallon.

No way am I giving them $3.99 a gallon.  By now, you may have figured out that I drive a car that requires high-octane gas and I probably shouldn’t be worrying about $.10 a gallon, but hey, it’s the principle of the thing.

In any case, seeing the $3.99 just ticked me off.  Now I was on a quest, I have $3.89 in my pocket so what have I got to lose, other than wasting gas looking for cheaper gas, but there was one more Exxon station that was on my way so why not give it a shot?

Victory!  The next station sold Exxon Supreme for $3.79…fill er up!  Given I had to put 16 gallons in the car, I saved a whopping $3.20, almost a gallon for free…less what I used driving from station to station of course, but like I said it is the principle of the thing after all.

Makes you wonder doesn’t it.  Three stations within the same town and not more than a mile and half apart and yet a twenty cent a gallon difference.  Apparently, it is not the oil companies that are ripping us off, the local station guy has a piece of the pie as well.

I’m not one of those individuals who will sit in line at a discount station running my engine for twenty minutes to save ten cents a gallon, but twenty cents and no wait, what a deal!

The United States of the Americas

I was in a supermarket the other day looking to buy…well it doesn’t really matter. In any case, I picked up a bottle of stuff and started to read the directions.

Am I that stupid, that I can no longer read directions on a container?  Not exactly, I was reading the side of the bottle in some foreign language, Spanish no doubt.  So, one has to ask (at least this one does), why do manufacturers feel the need to put directions on a bottle of stuff sold in the United States of America in two languages?

Exactly where are we headed?    I am not talking about a bottle or package here or there, but take a close look and you will see a growing number of products in both Spanish and English.  Since when did we decide that the US was going to be a dual language country?  Apparently, it has been decided for us.

If you think the directions are a problem, you had better hope they do not put the Spanish label to the front of the shelf or you will not even be able to find what you are looking for, unless of course you speak Spanish.

Somehow I doubt that when my ancestors came to the US from Ireland, Sweden and Germany (and England but I guess that doesn’t count), they went to the local market and found a can of peas with a label in Gaelic or German.  One of my great, great grandfathers was so nuts he came to the US in 1862 and promptly joined the Union army, imagine coming to your new country and immediately joining the army, what a concept.   Of course, the language thing did not mean much to him, he was illiterate. 

Sorry, but you will never convince me that if you adopt a new country that you should not speak the language of that country as your primary language.  Every group that has come to America has done it; Native Americans speak English as their primary language.  So why are the people from Guatemala, Mexico, or Costa Rica any different?  Perhaps the key is that people who do not choose to earn and speak English are not adopting America as their new country. I hope not because that is a very dangerous direction for America.  America will decline rapidly if indeed it becomes the United States of the Americas.  

The first thing people who come to the US and want to live here must learn is what E Pluribus Unum means.

Conspicuous Consumption

I was watching a show on TV Sunday about the new wealthy, who have made it big (generally through a lot of risk and hard work and in some cases many years).  They have time share planes, yachts that cost $5,000 a month docking fees, several homes they rarely visit (one guy forgot where they were when asked), etc., etc. On the other hand they give tens of millions to charity and leave their money not to their kids, but to other causes.  We could discuss the wealthy for a long time, but the bottom line is I am jealous, but they earned it and so be it, I would not have it any other way and good luck to every American who strives for that goal. I hope they are happy too.

However, that is nothing compared to some parts of the Middle East.  Take the United Arab Emirates where they have run out of things to add to their conspicuous consumption so they have turned to license plates.

An article in the paper today tells of a man who paid $14 million for a plate that simply read “1” and his cousin paid $9 million for “5”.  I guess I could get “3477” for about a years pay if I really tried.  So while Americans delight in putting messages on their cars with missing letters so they can stick to the size limits, in other parts of the world it is clearly less for more. 

Remember that the next time you fill up your tank in your vehicle with the plate that reads “Fluffy.”

I walked into a store the other day and noticed the large silver dome on the ceiling, they have been around for years, but for some reason I took special notice and then I saw the sign telling me that I was being watched, under surveillance if you will.  The same thing happen at my local ATM, I was under surveillance, someone (or some thing) was watching me all the time.  Where else are they watching, on street corners, in dressing rooms?

All this is for my protection…I suppose, or in some cases for the protection of the store on the chance that I will walk off with something.

I had no evil thoughts on my mind while in the store, but I felt guilty and nervous in any case.  What happens if my underwear rides up or a have an itch or I have an uncontrollable urge to pick my nose.  Is my hair out of place, no problem I have very little. How do I look, dare I pull up my sagging pants and what will I present if I bend over to tie my shoe?  What if my wife sees the tapes and notices me eyeing that blond in the Victoria Secret store…what am I doing in the Victoria Secrets in the first place? This could be embarrassing or pathetic.

Am I safe if a turn away from the all seeing dome, no good there is another dome?  There is simply no escape.  If I pick a shirt from the rack and put it on, will they think I am preparing to walk out of the store, will I be escorted to some interrogation room in handcuffs? 

Am I paranoid, is there any hope? I should have stayed in bed this morning.

June 24, 2008

The chickens are coming home to roost, but they sure are not driving.  In Europe a gallon of gas is $9.00 in US dollars and here come the protests.  For years governments have been adding taxes on gasoline to fund roads and many other things…in Germany even pensions.  Such taxes were largely invisible, until now that is.

No wonder they have all those motor scooters in Italy and now the two passenger Smart car.  Of course the same is true in the U.S. where the federal government and states add taxes to gasoline, not a bad thing of course if the money is used to maintain roads and related expenses.   But isn’t it interesting how we perceive being taxed.

I doubt I can name them all, but you have your good old income tax, state and federal in most cases.  Imagine there actually was a period of over a hundred years when there was no income tax. Interestingly there is a tax on the money you gain from saving or investing the money you already paid tax on and then again on the money you accumulate from what you earned and invested and then want to give to your children so that money is taxed three times.  It’s called an estate tax and that too is both federal and state in most cases.  If you have any doubt about the ability for the government to stick with a plan and not be tempted to just keep spending, remember the estate tax was designed simply to help pay for World War I.  Talk about how hard it is to pay off a credit card.

Take a look at a phone bill or cable bill or rental car bill or hotel bill and each one is laced with more federal and local taxes.  Did you ever actually pay for a hotel room anything close to what the hotel quoted you?  I just stayed in a hotel in downtown Philadelphia, the room was $195.00, but then there was the state occupancy tax of $13.65, the local occupancy tax of another $13.65, $5.40 tax on parking and $.70 tax on the charge to use the internet connection.  But I must admit by the looks of downtown Philly, they could use more money.

There are assorted tariffs and other stuff we never see, but are built into what we buy and use.  There is the very obvious sales tax so we are taxed on what we buy with the money left after we have paid tax on the money we earn or if you take the money to buy something from your investments you get to pay income, capital gains and sales tax……whoopee.  Let’s see if you rent a car that is actually taxed…….how many times?  I give up, it’s way beyond my little brain, and I failed calculus in college.

What are two of the major problems facing the United States?

One is health care costs driven in no small measure by a growing obesity epidemic, the result of a life style for many Americans devoid of exercise and poor eating habits.

The other problem is a combination of energy consumption, reliance on oil and pollution.

A solution to both problems has fortuitously been handed to us with no effort on our part, something that many Americans are used to (no effort that is).

We should rejoice in higher food and gasoline prices.  If the food bill is going higher, what you need to cut back on are the bags of chips, cookies, ice cream, and prepared foods and assorted other junk.  Let’s get back to basics, cook a meal from fresh food for a change, and who needs all those carbs in rice and corn anyway.

You know where this is going on the second problem, walk more and drive less (or get a more fuel efficient car), and the combination of more exercise and eating better and less will help not only with the pollution problem, but the obesity problem and we will all be healthier, lighter and with more money in our pockets to boot.  And dare I mention a lighter person or two in a car will contribute to higher gas mileage for your vehicle, not unlike being on a plane with one less bag of luggage.  At the same time if we use less fuel, the price of oil will come down and as a result the price of food will come down.  Holy cow, this supply and demand stuff works!

If all this sounds too simplistic, think again, we can and should eat less and better and even if you “need” your car to get to work, there are surely times you can walk, or bike or take mass transit in lieu of driving.  Heck, walking to the nearest KFC ® or Wendy’s ® location is even a step (or several) in the right direction.

Between all this weight loss, healthy living and cutting of pollution, we have inadvertently helped to solve the health care cost crisis as well.  See, higher food and gasoline prices are a good thing and we didn’t even need a politician to do it.  On the other hand, I suspect that politicians will end up messing up the whole deal by somehow artificially trying to lower gas and food prices.

May 1, 2008

My wife and I having leisure time on our hands on an occasional Sunday morning decided to go out for brunch this past week to a place that is generally crowded on Sunday morning. However, it was after 1:00 and the economy is in such bad shape who could afford to go out to eat?

Seems that many people do not read the newspaper and are not aware of the hard economic times, the crisis we are in, the rising cost of food and fuel and rising unemployment.  The sky is falling and people can go out in droves for ham and eggs and $12.00 omelets and $7.00 orders of corned beef hash, what gives?

It was tough getting though the door because the place was so packed, but eventually I did receive my number, I was 27 and they were calling number 9.  There were old (seasoned citizens) couples apparently not feeling the affects of a fixed income or on a spending spree with their reverse mortgage funds, young couples with children, young couples alone, black, white Hispanic, Americans all.  Many actually looked like they were “working Americans.”  Nobody has yet to receive his rebate check (or as I prefer to call it a refund of taxes you should not have paid anyway) so that can’t be it.

What’s going on, did they walk to the restaurant to save gas, and are they skipping two other meals what with the price of corn and rice hitting new highs?  Does living paycheck to paycheck include an expensive breakfast?  Wait, I get it, their home is being foreclosed and they figure what they heck, let’s eat.

I believe my original assumption was correct they don’t read the papers or watch television or listen to the politicians so they don’t know how bad off they really are.  They might even be among the 95% of American with a job or even among the 98% paying their mortgage on time.

I glance out the window while scoffing down my eggs benedict and notice the long line and constant volume of cars at the drive through of the fast food place across the street, ah, now those are the people in recession.

The Circus is Dead

Yesterday I took my family to the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus and after two hours and twenty minutes, I was still waiting to see the circus.  Apparently, the joy of the three-ring extravaganza is dead for my grandchildren.  What we saw was a combination of the Lion King, Laugh In and a segment of the Ed Sullivan Show.  I suspect many readers may recognize only one of these references...and that is a shame too.

Fully a third of the time was spent singing and dancing and costumed people flitting around the arena.  Oh sure, there were six tigers in a short performance, but no lions, a few horses being ridden as if we were at a rodeo.  The acrobats stood on several stands and showed us their flexibility and little more, there were no flying stunts, no back flips into a chair, no nothing of any grandeur.  The elephants walked around, stood up, laid down, and stood up, but I guess you cannot expect much more from a pachyderm.

There were no three rings, endless minutes of pure boredom and no clowns, no little people climbing out of a mini car, nothing funny at all, but there were many  few women strutting around as if they were auditioning for MTV, about as much class as a Optimum online TV commercial.

Emmett Kelley http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmett_Kelly  we need you.

Oh yes, there were plenty of flashing lights, large screens with blazing graphics and fireworks and there were plastic swords ($18.00) and spinning something or others for the kids ($22.00), but there were no clowns.

Change may be good, but shouldn’t it be for the better?  I suspect that within the next years the circus will be reduced to a video game.

People are very interesting beings, it is impossible to understand what motivates them, or turns them on or off. Consider this example. Yesterday I went to a restaurant on Cape Cod, Grumpy’s is the name and it is a very popular breakfast place, so popular it is hard to find a parking space and if you are lucky you will get to wait inside rather than in a line out in the heat or cold.

As usual the main parking lot was full, but connected to it are a few rental bungalows with additional parking available, if you are lucky, and lucky I was there was an empty space in a row of three spaces next to one of the houses.

My wife and I parked, went to eat (I had two large fishcakes with fried eggs, and home fries – but if you were more adventurous you could have an Italian antipasto omelet and any number of other creative combinations, hence the long lines I guess).

When we returned to our car another car was parked on an angle behind us quite effectively blocking us from going anywhere.  Who would be that dumb I thought, but in the back of my mind I was really thinking it looked like an act of purpose. Nevertheless I went into the restaurant and asked at every table if anyone drove a tan Chevette (there is a clue for you).  No one had such a vehicle.

My wife suggested I knock on the door of the nearby house, no answer.  I calculated a way to get out of this mess without moving the car behind me but after a few tries and the growing angst of injuring my wife’s car I gave up.

I knocked on the door of the house again and shortly it opened and a man walked out.  “Is that your car?” I asked.  “My wife’s.” he said and just proceeded to the car.  Not the reaction I expected.  Then the wife (and apparent parker of the car) emerged with venom on her lips berating me for parking in her “residential driveway.”  “Lady, how was I to know this was your parking space, the restaurant says customers can park here, there is no sign, there is no way to know it is your parking space.”  

“Well, it’s my space.” she continued unabated.  I took a clue from the husband who was quietly moving the vehicle from behind my car while the wife continues her diatribe which ended with “go home!”  I said no more.

I guess she was having a bad day, but likely not as bad as the husband.  If this was indeed the space assigned to this house, I sign would have been nice, but logic did not seem to be the forte of these dwellers.

I bet she votes for “change”.  This story is written at a seventh grade reading level just in case.

Consumer confidence has plunged.  The New York-based Conference Board says in a report released on Tuesday that its Consumer Confidence Index plunged in February to 75.0 from a revised 87.3 in January. The reading is the lowest since February 2003. The index measures how consumers feel now about the economy.

I have no idea what 75.0 means other than only 75% of the people think the economy is not in the basement, but are you surprised?

If I just landed on earth and was fortunate enough to set down in Peoria, I would be barraged by grim news. The market is crashing, bankers are in deep dodo, homes are being taken, jobs are disappearing, housing prices are tumbling, interest rates are going this way and that, gas costs more, credit is tight.  What else can go wrong?  Did I land in 1934?

On the other hand, if I was one of the 95% of Americans who are employed, or are among the distinct minority who did not use their home as an ATM, or run up credit card debt trying to keep up with the Joneses who were trying to keep up with the Smiths who were trying to keep up with Singhs, or who didn’t try to make a killing flipping a house, who didn’t drive a gas guzzling SUV or who didn’t need a 6 bedroom, five bath home for four people, I might ask, what the heck are you talking about?

If I was just a bit informed I might also say that dealing with the environment (however misguided some policies may be), the changing global economy, the emergence of China and India have more to do with oil and gasoline prices and food inflation than any sub-prime mortgage lender, but what do I know, I’m in Peoria?

February 27, 2008

“For the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country.”

Now there is an uplifting message from someone whose adult life spans the last twenty-five years or so.  There has nothing to be proud of for twenty-five years?  I would say that the simple fundamental structure of the United States of American, the continuing opportunities its generates, the ability for Americans to rally in times of crisis, all the reasons why people come from every corner of the earth to live here are something to be proud of.

It would be bad enough if some disgruntled society drop out made that statement, but when it is made by the women who would be first lady of the land, it makes you wonder why kind of people we want running this fledging democracy.

Now I know what is meant by “change.”

February 24, 2008

Big Business and the Big Picture

Oh those big bad corporations, they make too much profit, they ship jobs overseas; we need to rope them in.  Really? 

The fact is that a lot of people are very dependent on the success and growth of US corporations and profit is not a bad thing as some would have us believe.  Here is one example; the security of millions of workers and retirees (and union pension funds) is dependent on the success of U.S. corporations because that is where the pension trust funds are invested.  So if you tax more, cut profits, fix prices or do anything to lower the stock value of corporations you undermine the security of tens of millions of pensions or you cause private and public and union funds to invest more in their trusts to maintain secure funding levels.  Even the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation, the agency that backs up failed private pension plans, is going to invest more in the stock market for growth.

Are there too many jobs going overseas? Not quite? Many mid and small size manufacturers are begging for workers and can’t find those with the skills and experience they need.  Listen to the unions and you would think there are no jobs, or is that there are fewer union jobs?  Let’s see how this all works. DuPont, one of the oldest corporations in America has about ½ of its workforce in the U.S. but 2/3 of is sales come from outside the U.S. Are these workers more or less dependent on foreign sales for their jobs?   Look at Caterpillar, not only do foreign sales protect jobs, they create them.  So, when you hear about killing free trade or protectionist talk, look at the big picture of where profits come from and how important they are.  The fact is that America needs free trade and any impact on American workers needs to be dealt with through training, new job creation and education, not protectionism.

And then you have politicians touting the Medicare D program and how they will control costs by negotiating directly with drug makers to provide lower prices.  Let’s look at the big picture, the government forces lower prices for Medicare Part D, drug companies to maintain their earnings and value raise prices on everyone else…just as Medicare has caused to happen for years with health care providers by limiting payments to below market levels and forcing cost shifting to the private sector.  Only in the case of drug makers, falling sales may also mean less for research on new drugs, less incentive to do so and oops, falling stock prices which gets us back to the security of the pension trusts investing in these companies. 

Politicians want to trim the “excessive” payments to Medicare HMOs and what happens; it is no longer viable for companies to be in the Medicare program.  Millions of Medicare beneficiaries lose a good deal, their out of pocket costs go up and rather than the insurers accepting the risk, that risk for health care costs again shifts to Medicare as beneficiaries are forced to return to the basic program. 

Hey, I am on a role here so let’s keep going and head to Massachusetts and the great health care experiment called age based pricing. If you price health insurance based on the covered persons age then the younger people will pay less and the older person is likely to pay more (just ask Medicare).  In a large group the younger and healthier always subsidize the others, that is why it’s called group coverage and that’s why large employers self-insure their benefit plans. Then again the safe driver subsidizes the bad drive and that’s why it is called insurance.  And it is not a big secret why the big bad insurance companies can offer lower premiums to the younger groups. They have less risk.  It’s not rocket science, but politicians have no trouble making us think there are simple unconnected solutions to everything.

So when you hear that a politician is going to pay for this or that populist cause by doing this or that to the bad guys (generally “wealthy“  Americans, big business and insurance companies), better ask yourself or them, if they understand the potential consequences.  It all sounds so good on paper or a website until reality smacks you in the face.  Remember the AMT?  That was started because less than 200 Americans legally avoided paying any income tax a few years so Congress adopted a short-sighted law, failed to adjust it, used all the revenue and left us with the mess we have today.  Good going guys!

And, oh yes, those high paid executives; those headline grabbers with greed on their faces…annoying perhaps but not the cause of our economic woes.  What’s that, a baseball player just won an arbitration to be paid $10 million in 2008? And how many jobs did he create, how much innovation did he generate?

February 22, 2008

Well finally, our Congress, to be more accurate, the United States Congress is engaged in some important work.  Fixing Social Security, solving the health care “crisis” or perhaps finding a way to raise the standing of our Country on the world scene, could those issues finally be on the agenda?

Oh noooooo, none of the above.  Rather Congress is investigating the use of steroids among baseball players.   Let me say that another way. Congress cannot agree on any important issue or solve any national problem, but can find the time to investigate baseball.  I say again baseball!  You know that activity where grown men play a game for millions of dollars and families are ripped off paying their salaries.  The game where you get a card with a player’s picture on it when you buy bubble gum and the game that is supposedly the national pastime.   Well, I guess that is the answer.  If the national pastime does not deserve the attention of Congress what does?

Of course, given the vast amount of experience in illegal and immoral activity who better than Congress to investigate illegal and immoral activity?  And isn’t it interesting that a Senate or House Committee has the nerve to ask someone to testify under oath…we should be so lucky on the campaign trail.

What the heck, can we reasonably expect a member of Congress to pass up an opportunity to be on national television even if they are making fools of themselves, a photo op is a photo op afterall.

I just pulled off an interstate for lunch.  The rest area has a Nathans ® and a Roy Rogers ®, boy how I love a Nathan’s frank and fries so I get in line fully intent on getting a number 4.  In front of me are two men with a combined weight of over 500 pounds, well over. I look at them and then at the menu, I can taste the number four and oh those fries.  I can’t do it, I convince myself I am smarter than those two guys so I move on to Roy’s.

A roast beef sandwich has to be better than a frank and fries, well better for you anyway.  I again make the mistake of surveying the patrons and find a couple behind me heaping mayo on their roast beef sandwiches and each (the people, not the sandwiches) topping the scales at levels that would make the Biggest Loser ® proud.  In front of me two more men are ordering what I was contemplating and they too are heavyweights.  Doesn’t anyone with a BMI under 80 eat a roast beef sandwich?

I am not sure what happened but when I order, “roast beef and fries” comes out “chicken ranch salad.”  Darn, I really wanted a frank, Nathan’s fries and a roast beef sandwich.  I am not sure exactly what I accomplished though.  The chicken was cut up pieces of deep fried chicken and I was provided with two packets of ranch dressing, each with 25g of fat and 230 calories.  I drizzle a portion of one pack on my salad and feel proud…and deprived.

Defining Success

I am sitting in my local Panera’s Bakery, my favorite morning haunt.  I am the lone customer at this time of day, it is dank and gray outside and I am feeling a bit down (mostly because the scale this morning indicated that I had better avoid one of Panera’s pecan sticky buns). 

As I read the paper, I see that some of baseballs greatest names in recent times have been identified as using (let’s be polite) performance enhancing drugs and no, we are not talking about Viagra.  I remember as a kid in the 50s idolizing the likes of Duke Snyder, Gil Hodges, Pee Wee Reese and Mickey.  I suppose in retrospect they were not perfect either, but today it seems there is no one for kids to look up to with respect.  On the other hand, many of today’s children probably don’t know the difference. Perhaps it is just a matter of today’s heroes not being as discreet as in the past, but let’s hope it is more than that.

Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks has taken on new meaning considering what is now purchased at the ball park.  Going to a baseball game is more like attending a convention of EAP professionals.

The “news” on the radio this morning casually noted which Hollywood stars are now pregnant and who their boyfriend is at the moment, who even blinks?  Of course with the Hollywood divorce mentality does it even matter?  The money wasted on weddings could bail out another sub-prime mortgagee for Pete's sake.

Politicians lie to our faces and we re-elect them (ok so that is not a new phenomenon), they are convicted felons and we re-elect them, they blatantly commit adultery and sexual harassment (in the White House) and we chastise their critics.  Basketball and football players are routinely arrested for one offense or another, some large, some just stupid behavior and they are still the heroes for many of our youth.  We pay millions to recording “artists” who sing songs with disgusting lyrics and which demean women and we wonder why we have so much violence.  We view TV shows that are filled with sex for the shock effect and even commercials now reflect a society that accepts abhorrent behavior with a ho-hum attitude.  Video games can’t be fun without killing and mayhem and we wonder why we are desensitized to violence in our society.

Clearly I am out of touch. I am a bit down this morning and after all what is more important than success and all the people I criticize are successful are they not?

12/14/2007 7:33 AM

I hate Voice Mail!

“Hello, this is Ralph Whatshisname, I can’t take your call right now I am either on the phone or away from my desk.”

Ok, I give up which is it, are you on the phone or away from your desk, or don’t you know?  Or, perhaps you are on your desk and on the phone or away from the phone, but at your desk.

Voice mail systems allow you to make a distinction between the two so, if you care about the person calling you, set your blasted system so that a friendly caller will hear, “Hi this is Ralph I am on the phone (add ‘with a more important person’ at your own peril).” Or, Hi Ralph here, but I am not really here I am away from my desk (doing something more important than taking your call).”

You know all those options on your voice mail…use them!

I am sixty-four years old, but I still remember grammar school (let’s hope it is not the early signs of Alzheimer’s), now what was I saying?  Oh yes, grammar school.  I remember the terror of dodge ball, except when I was throwing the ball. 

I remember a kid swinging his sweater around and the zipper catching me in the back of the head and bleeding profusely as I walked all the way home, and yet my parents didn’t sue, the kid was not brought up on charges and the school was not investigated for abusive practices.  I wonder if the statute of limitations has expired?

I failed skipping in kindergarten which was brought to my mother’s attention as an early indication of serious trouble ahead for my development, and given two years in little league resulted in not hitting the ball with the bat (I am not talking not getting a hit, I mean not hitting the ball…at all), they may have been on to something.  On the other hand, a few years ago I won a car playing golf, so screw the skipping.

In fifth grade we hatched chickens and it was my job to come in early and clean the cage and feed the stinky little thinks, but they were cute and who knew they had the flu. Did you notice, come in early, by myself, into the school, in fifth grade, voluntarily?

 We also hatched Praying Mantises, by the hundreds as I recall, aren’t they endangered or something?  I do recall they were quite vicious when it came to devouring a cricket, oh, the violence...I’m waiting for the TV series.

I recall stealing Mulberry leaves to feed to silk worms we grew in sixth grade, no doubt portending the impending glut of Chinese imports.  But following the process from start to finish I sure as heck know how we get silk. And, I even know where China is, unlike a woman in my office who couldn’t find Kansas on the map.

Kids were regularly made to stand in the corner or go to the cloakroom when caught chewing gum, today the eleven year old is probably just taking her birth control pill (they give them out in Seattle).  I am a little slow but I don’t even recall discussing sex until high school, but then again I ran with a dull crowd so I missed all the good stuff.  I suspect that today one might be risking life and limb going into the cloakroom, if there is even such a thing.

I recall my favorite lunch in junior high, a Swiss cheese sandwich on rye with a side of mashed potatoes and gravy, the potatoes cost seven cents and I search for that gravy to this day.  There were no fries, no pizza, no vending machines and far fewer fat kids.  I know because I wore “husky” pants (must have been those potatoes at lunch).

I recall chanting “Ike, Ike, he’s our man, if he can’t do it, no one can,” on my way to school followed by “Stevenson, Stevenson, he’s a jerk.”  Now there is free speech for you.  I am guessing my decidedly lower middle income parents were Republican, who knew you could be low income and a Republican and at the same time not expect to get anything for nothing?

It wasn’t all good; I also remember standing in line for my Polio shot and having mumps (both sides at once), the measles and chicken pox.

It’s good to remember now and then, it helps us makes sense (or not) of the time in which we live. Actually, it’s amazing we all survived the 40’s and 50’s what with having beebee guns, pea shooters, caps, fireworks, no helmuts when riding a bike, no seatbelts. On the other hand, we walked to school, there were no fast food chains in the nieghborhood (except White Castle but there was no supersizing there) and my mother was home when I got there.  I guess it all balances out.

November 11, 2007

My House, My Future

I rambled on somewhere in these pages about a professor who said people were saving too much for retirement pointing out that part of what people save is the growing value of their home.  In addition, I have read reports that the low savings rate in the U.S. is overblown for the same reason, it doesn’t’ count growth in home equity…oops!

Here is a thought, the house where you live is your home, not your banker.  Ignore it in determining your wealth, your savings, and your retirement income.  It is not your ATM.  You don’t need to trade up every three years; you don’t need a five bedroom, four bath house for you, your wife and two kids.  A bedroom suite is not essential, nor is a media room or wine cellar.  Hey, if you can afford all that and still save for retirement, college, and if you dropped dead today your family could continue to live in that house, go for it.  If not, get real you need a clean comfortable place to live and raise your family and you need long term financial security, really you do.

I have been trying to figure out how the housing debacle has so affected the economy, consumer confidence and overall spending.  What does the value of ones house have to do with what they spend or their income or unless they are forced to sell now, their overall financial security?   Then I looked around my neighborhood at all the new additions, the new cars, that guy who retired at 57 (and recently found a new job), and those folks who took a world tour…aaaah!

October 30, 2007

There is Nothing More Important than Security

It must be 6-13 characters, it must be no more than eight characters, but it must be no less than five.  One character must not be a letter and one must not be a letter or number, you cannot use the same one within 90 days.  And by the way yours expires every 90 days, unless you change it sooner.

You need to enter three reminders to use it.  And