Where does the time go?

It probably goes to the same place as all my memories, and I'm not sure where that is, which is why I can't find some of my memories either....

It's been a busy couple of weeks--for campaigning politcos and me. I didn't get elected (and neither did at least half of those running for office), but, although I was running, it wasn't for public office. I was just doing my usual running around to get things done and then collapsing at the end of the day.

My sister and I moved our Mom here to Kentucky in mid-October and much of our time the past few weeks has been taking care of her needs, setting up her apartment, etc. That is beginning to slow to a trickle of tasks. She has all her furniture, all the items that were shipped are unpacked and put away and she's beginning to get into the schedule at her new place. Meanwhile, I have finally found some employment--it's tough out there for anyone seeking a job--and I start training tomorrow for two days and then the real work will begin in earnest in about two weeks. I'm taking advantage of my last full day of "freedom" (also known as unemployment) to clean house (now isn't that a clever use of time), work on some art projects and get a leaky tire fixed (see, I do know how to have fun).

I still haven't figured out where all the time goes each day (kind of like trying to understand where all the money in my checking account goes), but I'm okay with that as long as I can still remember mostly what I've done and where I've been. When the "mostly" turns to "rarely", then I'll be concerned. Although, by that point, I guess I won't care because I won't be able to remember enough to be concerned...or care. Now what was it I was supposed to do after I finished bloggering? Hmmmm.

Fly me to the moon...

No, wait, don't! My sister and I just returned from a very short, long trip. We flew from Kentucky to California, spent four days packing up our Mom's stuff (and throwing or giving away lots and lots and lots and lots and...well, you get it), and we just returned late last night. Mom is moved in to her new assisted living facility, but her state of confusion is pretty dang high right now and that doesn't help my state of confusion, which always seems to be on "orange alert".

I have been remiss in not writing on my blog for quite some time--not that anyone out there is clammoring for me to "Write more, please!", but I do miss my cathartic exercise in verbiosity. For the next few days I will be straightening out my Mom's finances, finishing what is necessary to get her everything she needs for her new place--some of the "lots of stuff" shouldn't have been pitched, but what the hey!--and working on an editing job I have with a group in Singapore. I think life will return to normal in the next week or so, but I won't be returning with it. I like being weird and a little left of "regular"--hey, does that make me high octane or in need of a prune? Anyhoo, I will bid all my faithful readers good night and I'll move on to my Excel spreadsheet and the fun and joy of financial wizardry.

American political scene

It's a scene all right. An accidental scene and I'm not sure there are any survivors.

I haven't been able to bring myself to watch the presidential and vice-presidential debates. I had a choice among 1) hitting myself in the head with a club full of pointy objects, 2) poking myself in the eye with a sharp pencil, 3) banging my head on the wall 12 times in succession, or 4) watching the debates. I determined that #4 was the most paintful, and I didn't like the other three very much either, so I read a book or watched HGTV (still my favorite channel). I knew I wouldn't get anything substantive out of watching the debates, unless you consider massive indigestion substantive, and I was low on Tums, which was one of the deciding factors. Well, that and the thought that TV programs should be fun to watch, entertaining, enlightening, uplifting, or informative, which the debates are not. I'll wait for the Economist magazine's edition in late October, where I know I'll be able to read an objective dissection of what each candidate really believes, has done or plans to do. Meanwhile, I'm declaring myself to be a "plaid" voter--a little red, a little blue. That's in honor of my Scottish ancestry...

November 4th may be the last day we have to endure campaign ads, but I have a terrible feeling that we will hear analysis of the race, the tactics, the results for a very long time. Who elected the media anyhoo? I think we need a referendum on the next ballot that limits political "after-thoughts" by any person involved with the print, video or audio sectors of the media. We could limit all analysis and commentaries by the media to mimes. Silence is golden....

odd names...and pastimes

People say they have a "pet peeve". What I want to know is what is a "peeve"? I've checked all the local pet stores and no one seems to have such an animal, mineral or vegetable.

Is trying to find a pet peeve kind of like a snipe hunt, where unsuspecting "first-time" campers are sent out into the woods, late at night to find a snipe to capture with only a bag and a skimpy flash light? Of course, all the campers are in on the joke except for the "new kids on the block", who want so badly to be initiated into the seasoned campers' club. Almost everyone who has ever gone to camp has earnestly sought the elusive snipe. And decidedly everyone has never caught one. What newbies do catch is 1) a cold from being out on a damp night, 2) "on" as is finally figuring out that they've been had by the twisted and mean upper classmen of camping, or 3) heck from the adult camp staff, who have forgotten what it was like to be a kid, dragging a gunny sack along, calling out "Here snipe, here snipe" somewhere in the middle of the woods. Even normally kind children, who make it through a snipe hunt, are willing to subject new camp attendees to this little initiation rite of passage.

By the time we're grown ups, we probably won't fall for snipe hunts, so we invent adult versions of them. One of these mythical adventures is called searching for the perfect job--one that has minimal hours, maximum pay, no boss, more holidays than Hallmark has cards, two-hour lunches, five breaks a day, Christmas bonuses larger than the GNP of most countries, 12 weeks of vacation (paid--not only the days off but all expenses incurred on said vacations), as many personal days as you want and need in order to deal with personal issues such as hang nails, chipped nail polish, a run in your panty hose (or hair socks if you're one of those Ralph Lauren/no sock kind of guys), waking up to find that you just don't feel like working, etc. I've been searching for the past two months, and all I've been able to find is dust bunnies under my bed, the missing cap from my toothpaste tube, the hiding place for my extra set of car keys--see how good my hiding place was; it took me two months to find them. Maybe there's a job for hiding things. I would definitely qualify if there were.

Meanwhile, my search for a pet peeve continues. If anyone out there knows where I can find one, please call me. Meanwhile, I will continue to look for the perfect job. I'm not sure I will be able to let you know if I find one, because I'll probably be on vacation or taking a personal day or holiday or a break or a long lunch, so I'll be out of touch. Hey! Maybe I am qualified for the perfect job. Everyone in my family tells me I'm out of touch....

Let's play, "I win...you lose!"

Isn't that what the banking and financial institutions have been doing as of late? And guess what, lots of people have lost and will continue to lose. This is not warm and fuzzy news. I guess if we want that kind of news, we'll have to go to a pet store and buy some.

Meanwhile, is anybody out there in charge? Is anybody out there willing to raise a hand and say "I'm responsible for some of this mess"? Is anybody out there taking the long view when planning business ventures, expansions, financial products and instruments and the possible fall-out and consequences if everything isn't right with the world? Did anyone, at any time when variable rate mortgages were introduced ever think this was only a good idea when rates when down and the people paying the "bill" were favored? Did anyone, at any point in time think that it was a good idea to assign variable rate mortgages to people trying to buy the American dream (a house) and being stretched to the max to do it, and that somehow "it would all work out"? Did anyone ever think about the fragility of the variable-rate mortgage market (and its customers) and the extreme results that would occur if interest rates were to move even a few percentage points north? When the real estate market started to soften in late 2005 and the banks and mortgage companies continued to hand out sub-prime and questionnable standard mortgages to individuals and the foreclosure numbers started to creep up, did anyone wonder what all the banks and mortgage companies were going to do with re-possessed houses? Sell them in a soft market for a lesser value than the mortgage being held--since most were almost 100% value mortgages? When the sub-prime collapse occurred, did any of the financial institutions holding mortgages or heavily invested in them wonder if maybe they would be better off keeping people in their houses, letting them pay a fixed mortgage rate thus averting a massive foreclosure situation, putting people out on the street, adding to the ever-growing real estate marketplace woes and their own financial instability--basically cutting their financial noses off to save their faces? Anyone who studies a mortgage agreement can see that the money made by the banks and mortgage companies over the life of a 30-year loan, even at a low, fixed rate, is a lucrative, profitable way to make money. By greedily demanding mortgage payments that had increased decidedly, if they were variable rates, the financial institutions struck a match as they held mortgagees feet to the fire. Unfortunately, for them, they held onto the match too long and were themselves burned. It's a little bit like the "Sorcerer's Apprentice" where the servant in the house gets lazy and likes things being done easily. He thinks of a brilliant idea about how to take care of business without so much effort, so he conjures up some magic and the broom brings buckets and buckets of water--taking care of what needs to be done, but the broom takes on a life of it's own and does not know when to stop and floods the whole house, doing great damage. There's no magic to sound financial principles and their effect. There's also nothing Mickey Mouse about applying them--they never go out of style or on an errand unchecked or unbidden.

And are any of the financial institution executives available to discuss what went wrong and how to prevent a recurrence, or are they too busy packing up their golden parachutes so they can bail out? While we're at it, let's give a big shout out to the SEC and other agencies that are supposed to be watching over the markets and the financial/banking institutions. Oh, and I'd like to ask the folks at AIG in particular how they all just figured out last Sunday (when they should have been in church praying fervently for forgiveness and guidance) that their company was about to do a big old belly flop!

All this pride and greed, arrogant thinking processes, no concern for the little guy (and this country is mostly made up of us little guys who go to work everyday, work hard, earn our pay, pay our taxes, have no hope of or need for a lavish salary or lifestyle and don't feel it is due us), failure to assess the future with simple analytical studies basic to any business school--best case/worst case scenarios, prone-to-believe-their-own-press, making no room at the table for the "older" generation (who lived within their means, without credit cards or loans for anything other than cars or houses, without Blackberries or iPods or iPhones and mostly without a lot of use for the word "I", and who lived through wars and depressions and very difficult times) have brought us to a very steep precipice which is fearsome. Now everyone is wondering why? How did we get here? A little study of the past 20 years will be enlightening and answer those questions. The point, beyond knowing how and why, is to ask what we can do--each of us--to clean up the mess (and it's a complicated mess), plan for a better, more measured future, (perhaps not as flamboyant and full of young Turks who want to make extreme salaries and receive bonuses that are more than the GNP in many Third World nations while proposing "creative" money-making schemes that will line the pockets of American financial institution and send a few coins their way, while they pick the pockets of the average citizen and risk losing their pants in the process). As much as we don't like the idea of our government stepping in and regulating the private sector, when the private sector behaves badly, arrogantly, without consideration for their behavior and in a cavalier and reckless manner, then someone has to be responsible for restoring order and preventing further destruction. If the private sector wants to remain so, it needs to develop some decorum, some manners, some civility, but most of all, it needs to govern itself in a responsible manner that takes into consideration everyone involved, not just the fat cats at the top. Isn't there just a little irony in the fact that the private sector doesn't want government interference...until it needs an $85 billion bail out? Yep. And when major corporations and financial institutions falter and fail, everyone is involved whether they had a say in how things were handled by these entities or not. At least, when the government steps in, we, the people have an opportunity to make our voices heard, become part of the process even if only in a small way. It isn't that I believe our government is run by geniuses at all levels, and we're in good hands like the Allstate ad claims, but it's better than closed meetings, closed minds and the closing of vital and important businesses in our nation.

Let's not play, "I win"...the stakes are too high.

My ink levels are low and other revelations...

I love computer prompts, those little windows that pop up while you're in the midst of a deep and complicated e-mail response to a friend or trying to navigate through cyberspace and it appears that you have overdosed on Dramamine. My all-time favorite (and I think many of you will agree) is Mr. Office Assistant Clip--that paper clipper who "bonks" on your screen from the inside and insists on helping you write your letter, your report, your whatever.

The first time I encountered Mr. Clip, I found him amusing and entertaining (that's what happens when you live alone)...until I needed to do what I needed to do. He's like a possessed puppy, sniffing and barking in your face, but you have no dog treats that will appease him. It didn't take long for me to tire of his "company", but it did take a while to find a way to rescind his invitation to the dance. Every once in a while I miss him (usually after I've taken major medication or have bumped my head on something), and I wonder how he's doing. Has he taken a vacation lately, other than the one I forced on him, at least in my little world? Does he have a family? Now wouldn't that be weird to have lots of little paper cliplets bouncing around on the computer screen? Does Mrs. Clip work outside the home--I'm assuming yes, if only to get away from her significantly irritating "other"?

In my next life, I want to be computer programming literate enough to create some additional, irritating "helpers" and "pop-up" reminders and to be able to selectively send them to people who are arrogant (especially about their computer skills) or have been mean to someone, including me. Wouldn't that be poetic justice? Or is that computic justice? Meanwhile, I'll have to be content knowing that what's popping up on my screen asking me if I need the latest updates for Adobe Reader, Norton Security, or replacement ink cartridges, etc., while I am in the middle of writing my epic novel on "How to Get Along" (so I can win the Nobel Prize for world peace), is also popping up on almost everyone else's, including the arrogant and mean people who, like Mr. Clip, have been "clicked" into oblivion.

I'll take "Surveys" for $800...

While I am job hunting via the Internet, I happen upon lots of interesting websites and "opportunities" to make a little money. One of these is InboxDollars. I signed up and took an initial survey. I get paid (a small amount) just for opening e-mails from them. Mostly I turn down the "HUGE OPPORTUNITY" offers for things I don't use, don't want to use, and don't want to hear about. But I do like to click on "Take Surveys" to see if there is a survey for which I qualify and for which I can earn spare change.

The process is--click on "Take Survey" and a legal document pops up on your screen explaining everything you need to know and understand, and I think there is some extraneous material included about not cutting your toenails too short to avoid ingrown nails and helpful tips on how to keep bread fresh in hot and humid weather, but I must confess that I don't read every minute detail before "I Agree" to the terms and conditions. After being "agreeable", a video with a nice young lady appears on the screen and she lectures me about being honest in my answers. I am properly chastened and decide not to pretend that I am 25, making $500,000 a year, and living on the Riviera Coast. The next screen asks me a group of questions to determine if I am eligible for the available survey(s). Now here is where I have some concern. I can usually only check off one or two in the affirmative (these questions change daily depending on who wants to "know"). My checked off items are "I watch TV" and/or "I go to movies in the theater" (as opposed to the forest? a cave? Aunt Helen's barn?). Most of the time, the other questions, which I cannot honestly check off (thanks to Ms. Preachy Person) are--"Do you consume alchoholic beverages on a daily basis?", "Do you have children in your household under the age of 8", "Do you make most of the household buying decisions", etc. Well, if you are consuming alcoholic beverages on a daily basis, you might want to hire a sober babysitter for your children and avoid making any important decisions about purchases until you have had a chance to "sleep it off". Of course, none of the surveys are asking for my opinion on these kinds of situations, so I am relegated to the occasional survey about taking pain medication--a must after job hunting and/or survey taking, or one about what kind of floor cleaner I prefer (the kind that gets rid of dirt...easily and without rinsing, thank you).

I'm thinking I might put a survey on my blog about how to spend significant amounts of time on survey-taking websites without an appropriate return on investment (of time that is), but, my eyes are now so blurry and watery from all the hours I've spent checking out the available "surveys-of-the-day" and searching through hundreds of job postings, applying online to jobs that seemed promising even when the "apply online" procedure was less than user friendly--can you say "user hostile and confusing"? (Some links are missing, kind of like the Dr. Leaky issue, and by the time I try to cut and paste my resume to fit into their limited "space" I forget what the job is for which I am applying. I have also found that, after completing a lengthy application, I can not return to the page detailing the job without losing the application in the process, so I wing it and hope that what I write in my application has some relevance to the job.) And so I find that I can no longer see my monitor screen clearly. I love Monet and all those Impressionists but in a museum, not on my screen. If Van Gogh had lived in today's world and had to deal with the imperfections of websites and other related portals, he would probably have cut off his other ear! As for me, I'm cutting this off while I can still see well enough to exit the programs I have open....