It's a little hysterical right now how even the 24/7 news can't keep ahead of the stock market. They start the day with "stock futures point to bug selloff" and the market opens around 80 points down. By midmorning it's up around 30, but the headlines read "profit taking causes stocks to stumble". That's because there WAS a profit snatch, but it lasted one hour, making the index to drop more than 200 and then swing back up.
It's a littl elike the weather forecast is for rain, precipitation chances 100%, and out the window you see sunshine. Seems there are some things we can't control or predict.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Are you Granma Kate's Poppa?
I love being a grandfather.
I need to love it, as it has become a rapidly growing status as the population of those who refer to me as such grows. The latest 2 are a grandson and granddaughter born within about 9 weeks of each other. Funny, 9 week old Ensley, the grandson, looks HUGE compared to the new liddle darling Lauren (born last Thursday). Funny too, as he looks at her with a knowing stare "I remember back when I was like that...."
There are many good parts of it. One of them is getting congratulated. Oh yes, like I did anything?! I give the knowing smile in thanks, as though there was an ounce of effort. I just held the little dickens and made funny noises.
Another thing is the whole diaper thing. When the bottom vibrates, you look for a mom and "presto" - you are out of it. Nothing like being a grandfather.
But, best of all are the children who have grown and blessed me with this privileged title. My girls have all made me very proud to be the grandfather of their children. (Still waiting on the sons to reproduce...with some trepidation). They come from far and near to show them off and let me play with them. I teach them things (I haven't once succombed to the threat to teach them bad words), and I explain such unknowable things as "Poppa, what happened to you hair?".
Ah the imponderable.
I need to love it, as it has become a rapidly growing status as the population of those who refer to me as such grows. The latest 2 are a grandson and granddaughter born within about 9 weeks of each other. Funny, 9 week old Ensley, the grandson, looks HUGE compared to the new liddle darling Lauren (born last Thursday). Funny too, as he looks at her with a knowing stare "I remember back when I was like that...."
There are many good parts of it. One of them is getting congratulated. Oh yes, like I did anything?! I give the knowing smile in thanks, as though there was an ounce of effort. I just held the little dickens and made funny noises.
Another thing is the whole diaper thing. When the bottom vibrates, you look for a mom and "presto" - you are out of it. Nothing like being a grandfather.
But, best of all are the children who have grown and blessed me with this privileged title. My girls have all made me very proud to be the grandfather of their children. (Still waiting on the sons to reproduce...with some trepidation). They come from far and near to show them off and let me play with them. I teach them things (I haven't once succombed to the threat to teach them bad words), and I explain such unknowable things as "Poppa, what happened to you hair?".
Ah the imponderable.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Broke the code
I did figure it out - that Weight Watchers thing. The points are a simple way of controlling your eating behavior. Problem is, for Americans it goes against our grain to imagine that if the number is smaller it is a good thing. Like golf, I guess. The lower the score the better you are. Why couldn't that apply to bowling, in which case I'd be a candidate for Olympic golfing?
Anyway, the points measure the taste of a food. Foods that are universally recognized as tasting good, like you find in restaurants, have high point values. Foods that are healthy (therefore DON'T taste good) have low point values. Foods that NOBODY would recognize as satisfying OR tasting good have zero points. For example, who would sit down with a nice chunk of cauliflower to munch on instead of a couple of slices of the cold pizza in the fridge from the night before? Only someone doing the WeightWatchers thing. (I actually did that, and actually had that choice to make...)
Makes me long for the days when I enjoyed the fine taste of a good fat-free cigarette. Do they have points?
Anyway, the points measure the taste of a food. Foods that are universally recognized as tasting good, like you find in restaurants, have high point values. Foods that are healthy (therefore DON'T taste good) have low point values. Foods that NOBODY would recognize as satisfying OR tasting good have zero points. For example, who would sit down with a nice chunk of cauliflower to munch on instead of a couple of slices of the cold pizza in the fridge from the night before? Only someone doing the WeightWatchers thing. (I actually did that, and actually had that choice to make...)
Makes me long for the days when I enjoyed the fine taste of a good fat-free cigarette. Do they have points?
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Watch this!
This weight watchers thing is kind of depressing. I thought I was doing good having a blackened tilapia sandwich today at Ruby Tuesday for lunch. I mean, it's fish. How much could it cost me?
20 points.
I get 30 a day.
Dang.
20 points.
I get 30 a day.
Dang.
Friday, October 3, 2008
The madness
My dislike for sports is the basis for what I think is my dislike for some of the drivel we hear in the "24/7" news world.
People who follow sports spend an inordinate amount of energy predicting what will happen when it is in the midst of happening. They get excited about the game and the team, hoping and guessing. It seems kind wasteful to me - if you wait for a couple of hours you find out the answer in real life. Think of all the emotion, energy, potato chips, and beer that gets saved!
Elections are kind of the same. We citizens are presented the options, and we have a decision to make. Who might or might not win shouldn't really matter to the choice - we choose who we want the most and our part is done - vote and wait for the outcome. It is what it is.
Who cares what others think? They will vote the way they choose. Who cares what the polls predict? Does that change the choice the individual has? The press and the machine is spending it's resources trying to tell us why our choice is bad and why they are smarter. Make the choice, cast the vote, go to bed, and see the outcome.
I would like it much better if everyone got a mailing from the candidates that explains their position and that ended it. We make our choice and move on. Drop the hype and drivel; cut the news back to 2 one hour shows a day; take the money that is wasted on ads and stickers...maybe spend that on something that actually produces something...maybe then we'd get regular people with comon sense in office...
People who follow sports spend an inordinate amount of energy predicting what will happen when it is in the midst of happening. They get excited about the game and the team, hoping and guessing. It seems kind wasteful to me - if you wait for a couple of hours you find out the answer in real life. Think of all the emotion, energy, potato chips, and beer that gets saved!
Elections are kind of the same. We citizens are presented the options, and we have a decision to make. Who might or might not win shouldn't really matter to the choice - we choose who we want the most and our part is done - vote and wait for the outcome. It is what it is.
Who cares what others think? They will vote the way they choose. Who cares what the polls predict? Does that change the choice the individual has? The press and the machine is spending it's resources trying to tell us why our choice is bad and why they are smarter. Make the choice, cast the vote, go to bed, and see the outcome.
I would like it much better if everyone got a mailing from the candidates that explains their position and that ended it. We make our choice and move on. Drop the hype and drivel; cut the news back to 2 one hour shows a day; take the money that is wasted on ads and stickers...maybe spend that on something that actually produces something...maybe then we'd get regular people with comon sense in office...
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