I saw this Dilbert cartoon and thought, hey, that’s the economist I‘ve been listening to: In our family’s fantasy stock-picking game, I cynically chose an “Armageddon-is-coming” mix of stocks: guns, ammo, aerospace defense, gold, Russian gas and oil, and a nice chunk of cash to grab for when the banks completely collapse. To my surprise,…
Category: Daft Musings
The Accidental TEA Partier
Yesterday, Peter called me from his office to tell me about the TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Party/Protest which had formed on the street below his office. This TEA Party was people protesting out-of-control goverment spending, such as the TARP bank bail-out (which as far as I know no-one, right or left, liked); the blasted-through-without-being-read trillions-of-dollars…
The Hypocritical Capitalist
I got paid by my client on Thursday, about which I was very happy. I love capitalism, no matter how brutal, unfair and “chaotic and unforgiving” our president may deem it as being. I sacrifice my free time and work hard, and then I get money which I may spend however I wish. I reiterated…
In Bruges
Last night, Peter and I finally got around to watching the 2008 movie In Bruges. It’s somewhat of an indie film, so you may not have seen it, but if you like the English gangster genre, or you just like quirky indie films, you’ll like this. In short, it’s English gangsters having a bad time…
Funny Foreign Phone Conventions
I have been stressing over a number of matters during the last week; so much so that Neil joked that for me, it’s not March, it’s FREAKuary. Yesterday, an English friend called me about one FREAKuary concern that had gone from just bad to godawful, and which tangentially involved him. As he always does, he…
The Art of Artistic Restraint
Like many comic book fans, Peter and Neil were excited to go see the movie version of the Watchmen. Even though the movie was rated R, Peter and I didn’t have any great reservations about Neil seeing it. He’s read the graphic novel three times already, and he’s seen artistic nudity and violence in the…
Carolyn’s Daft Investment Tips
I recently happened to make an investment move so astute my broker complimented me on the action when it was done. I’m not rich; I just managed to lose less money than I would have if I’d kept my money in the market. So forthwith, based on my one brilliant move, I am sharing with…
Desperately Seeking Shiaw-Ling for the Protocol Office
Two recent diplomatic gift–presentation debacles have highlighted one thing: whoever our current administration has in the Office of Protocol who is in charge of procuring gifts for foreign dignitaries, it’s clearly not Shiaw-Ling. And now that we’re all (well, ok, maybe just me) embarrassed by the gift-giving gaffes, the only thing to do is to…
On Having a Job
I came to a hard realization that I still needed to squish in a blog or two when I went to extreme measures just to add my opinion to an entry on James Hudnall’s blog. My comment was really the sort of thing I would have written up as my own blog entry back when…
Our 2008 Christmas Treasure Hunt
It’s become our family tradition to hide each others’ gifts and set up clues in order to find them. This year it was my turn to hide Peter’s presents. I tried hard to keep it easy, but not too easy. When the clues are too hard to figure out, it frankly gets frustrating for everyone….