I've soliloquized on my idea of friendship before, what it means and the levies assessed by claiming friends. But this morning I couldn't sleep so was lying in bed letting my mind graze and it hit upon the peculiarity that is Facebook and its 'friend' basis.
If you want to connect to someone on Facebook you 'Friend' them which, in and of itself is weird since 'friend' is not a verb outside of Facebook. Yet it has become a common part of the cultural lexicon. 'I'll friend you, 'k?'
It's weird and it's phony, like Styrofoam phony, and I really don't like it, but I am caught up in it just like most of the people I know.
There are lots of words that mean that you know someone. There's nodding acquaintance which is pretty clear. You recognize someone you see regularly. Perhaps, but not necessarily, you know their name. You're barely or not on speaking terms because you don't know them well enough for that so, as you pass by you make eye contact and nod.
There are acquaintance with whom you exchange verbal greetings, "Hi, Phil." "Hi, Bill."
There are colleagues, the people with whom you work and collaborate. That can be within a department or across departmental lines. It's primarily a business relationship with give and take and shared labor. You might talk about personal stuff, but it's little things, nothing deep or intimate.
There are co-workers, those people with whom you work but don't necessarily work closely. You see them most days. You'll stop to chat about superficial things like, 'man, it's cold out there today!' or 'how're you, today?' Just the very basics and little or nothing personal.
There are work friends, the people with whom you do a little more than just brush by with a few platitudes. These are the people with whom you share some of yourself, open the window to your outside life a bit and let in across your personal threshold. You may not ask them to sit down and make themselves comfortable, but you at least let them inside to stand in the vestibule. Perhaps you share a table at lunch or hang out with them during a break. But that's as far as the 'friendship' goes. Once the five o'clock whistle blows, you're each off to your other life with a wave and "I'll see you tomorrow!"
Then there are your friends - the real world friends. These are the people with whom you choose to spend time, not because you have to because you're working together within the confines of business, but because you want to. Perhaps you did meet at work, or maybe at school or the gym or church or some other place. It's a chosen relationship - you chose them, they chose you and bingo, a budding friendship that develops over time into something with meaning.
When push comes to shove they have your back. When life throws lemons, they're there to help pick them up and make that lemonade. Then, once the lemonade is made they'll stand by your side and build that stand with you and help you sell it. If you need a shoulder or a shelter, they're there, arms held wide. If you're wrong they'll tell you so. If you're right but have been wronged, they'll tell you that, too.
Given the construct of Facebook and it's society of 'friends', it is really strange, almost otherworldly. It tips the concept of the word 'friend' onto its head and turns it inside out and backward.
How many real world friends do you have on Facebook? And I don't mean nodding acquaintance, acquaintance, colleagues or co-workers. I mean real honest to God friends who have your back and meet the criteria of the life / lemon / lemonade stand.
How many people of the 'friends' that you have there have you ever met or spoken with outside of the confines of the interweb in the past three months?
Some people on Facebook seem to collect 'friends' like confetti. They're not particular about who the other person is. They just want to see how many people they can connect to. Perhaps they view it as a contest? Whoever dies with the most 'friends' wins or something.
I don't know. All I know is that the friending and unfriending and all the rest of it on Facebook is phony and empty and cold.
Now Facebook didn't create it's 'friend' concept lightly. Saying 'friend' brings warm connotations, a hint of a relationship closer than acquaintanceship, although I'm willing to wager that the vast majority of 'friends' on Facebook are little or less than real world acquaintance. It's just not as inviting to say, 'I'll send you an acquaintance request, okay?'
And it's funny because the friending / unfriending is willy-nilly. In the real world, if someone 'friends' someone, it's because they've met face-to-face. They've moved from nodding acquaintance through acquaintance to become something more. In the real world friends chat one-on-one and share personal things - likes, dislikes, time together. In that realm if someone unfriends a friend, everyone knows it. The parties involved and everyone who has meaning in the lives of both parties hear about it. The break-up is loud and public with crying and hugging among the parties and their real-world friends.
On the interweb when 'friends' break up it goes down with nary a ripple.
Recently, we had a situation at work where someone with some authority posted an inner-thought. They were faced with an unpleasant task and, instead of keeping it off the interweb, they let it off leash and the pitbull of half-a-hint took off running. This person had 'friended' a bunch of co-workers and, because of the inter-relationship created by Facebook, all of the co-workers saw this post. Which was inflammatory in the sense of security.
For me, seeing that, I shrugged because I've been through the wringer, the mill, the whatever you choose to call it and I've survived. Not in the same situation, of course, but I have come through intact and ready to fight back.
At this point I liken work to being in a chicken factory. If you're there, there's damn all you can do about the outcome. All you can try to do is be the best chicken you're capable of being so the powers that be don't decide to hook you to the line with a Bad End.
So, knowing that whatever this person was having to do was going to happen whether I liked it or not, I shrugged and went about my business.
Others, however, got all excited and worked-up. I still don't know what happened, but one of my co-workers, one of the sensitive and anxious, caught me in the hall and asked if I had seen that post. I had. Then they asked, 'did you get un-friended, too?'
It was as if this person was resentful because the other person had abruptly unfriended everyone associated with the company. It was a bad break-up, I guess.
Curious, I went online and checked and, sure enough, this individual who had posted what should have been kept private was no longer in my list of friends. I hadn't even noticed. Which means, when you look at it that way, we weren't really 'friends' at all, were we?
Now, I hope you have a friendly day with someone you can look in the eye and say, 'I'm glad to know you.'
Best~
Philippa
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories
Thursday, December 31, 2015
Wednesday, December 30, 2015
A Whirlwind In My Brain
It's a bit like having an E4 twister in my head. Since waking up this morning, I have had a parade of thoughts of things all over the landscape. No one thing has stood tall, front and center. Just random things like the weather, the cat, work, home, future, general stuff, The Stack, The Project, the weather, food (recipes, what I'm going to make for next week's lunches), etc.
Thinking about the home front and the work front and the carpet and all sorts of other things are keeping me busy. That's a good thing, except that the thoughts keep bumping hips, falling over and crumbling to dust when they hit the bottom of the brain pan. Then they coalesce, rebuild into something new and take another turn.
I had to stop and fill the tank this morning and, baby, it was cold outside. I had been listening to the news while I got dressed, for the traffic and weather more than anything else. At 0-dark-thirty it was 32d in the surrounding area. Getting gas was made semi-demi comfortable because I bundled up and wore gloves.
Coming over the hill a little later, it was misting and cold enough that I thought I might get to see some snow. I didn't and was/am a little disappointed. Just a little snow would have been nice, like a dusting of powdered sugar over the top of a cookie or cake. But it just misted through the cold.
Normally the phrase "what are you wearing" is laden with all sorts of meaning. Most often that question touches on the suggestive. This morning I might as well have said "I'm wearing a wool union suit".
What I was / am wearing are: My heavy pair of jeans, a polyester short-sleeved tee under a synthetic blend sweater under a silk scarf under a plush-lined jacket under a synthetic fleece vest, under a synthetic knit scarf. Upon arrival I did take off the synthetic knit scarf and gloves before trying to type. And, despite the polar bear look of the fleece / jacket / scarf / sweater I was still chilled. Not cold, per se, but decidedly chilled with vaguely tingling fingers. It took a fair amount of hand rubbing to get the blood to flow and warm up the digits, but they're working now, so it's good.
The one thing that really made my morning was, believe it or not, a hot flash. Don't let anyone kid you. Menopause during the winter isn't all bad because there are times when the timing is perfect. Like this morning or, my favorite, when it's two o'clock in the morning, the house is freezing, and you wake up because you have to use the bathroom and... hot flash! Your very own portable heater that makes the freezing room comfy while you take care of what needs taking care of. By the time you get back to bed the worst of it has passed and you're ready to settle in and go back to sleep. Those are the good times for a private power surge.
Of course there are the other times, the summer times when it's 100d outside and you're spiking into the internal ionosphere. That's no fun. Then it's all you can do not to strip off completely, no matter whether you're on the sidewalk, in a restaurant or meeting, or someplace private. And in the someplace private I will confess to having done that until the requirement passes. Cool cloths only do so much, after all.
Front and center, on the work side of things, The Project I worked on came back to me again, for the third time. I hate when that happens. I feel as if I've failed when, more than anything, it's probably just a miss-in-communication. My understanding of what's needed isn't as clear as it should be, and I don't know enough about what I'm doing to ask cogent questions. That's one of the problems with stepping into another person's responsibilities with someone you haven't worked with before and are expected to hit the ground running while wearing a blindfold. Zero training. Zero real explanation. Just here's this and this and this and... it's all yours.
I've been around the block enough that this isn't unusual. It's still difficult and uncomfortable, but not unusual so I've done what I thought needed to be done. Nope. Came back and I took another swat. Then, with clearer understanding, I asked a couple of questions, parroted back what I thought I'd heard and got the green light.
So, now that it's clear and I do understand that further analysis is required, I'll get started. I even have a plan (yay, me!). First, I'm going to analyze the hell out of it. How many which ways to Sunday? That's step one. Step two is doing it, checking it, and then I'll toss this fish back across the fence. Once that's done, I'll dust my hands and head to the sink to wash the scales away.
After that there are other things. Like The Stack which, because it reached the point of ANNOYING, I spent an hour working on this morning. Things are better. ==> That side of my desk is clear, except for the coffee cup rings I didn't know were there are now showing. Obligatory wash down and at least the plastic surface will be both clear and clean. <== That side of my desk is piled a touch higher, but it's all good because it's now all in one place.
There are other little things swirling, but the big ones have stopped popping for the moment. So now I'll head off to do my analysis of The Project and then I'm going to get started on The Stack. Maybe I'll even dig down to China (or Japan or Korea or whatever characters those things on those documents are).
Have a lovely day!
Best~
Philippa
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories
Thinking about the home front and the work front and the carpet and all sorts of other things are keeping me busy. That's a good thing, except that the thoughts keep bumping hips, falling over and crumbling to dust when they hit the bottom of the brain pan. Then they coalesce, rebuild into something new and take another turn.
I had to stop and fill the tank this morning and, baby, it was cold outside. I had been listening to the news while I got dressed, for the traffic and weather more than anything else. At 0-dark-thirty it was 32d in the surrounding area. Getting gas was made semi-demi comfortable because I bundled up and wore gloves.
Coming over the hill a little later, it was misting and cold enough that I thought I might get to see some snow. I didn't and was/am a little disappointed. Just a little snow would have been nice, like a dusting of powdered sugar over the top of a cookie or cake. But it just misted through the cold.
Normally the phrase "what are you wearing" is laden with all sorts of meaning. Most often that question touches on the suggestive. This morning I might as well have said "I'm wearing a wool union suit".
What I was / am wearing are: My heavy pair of jeans, a polyester short-sleeved tee under a synthetic blend sweater under a silk scarf under a plush-lined jacket under a synthetic fleece vest, under a synthetic knit scarf. Upon arrival I did take off the synthetic knit scarf and gloves before trying to type. And, despite the polar bear look of the fleece / jacket / scarf / sweater I was still chilled. Not cold, per se, but decidedly chilled with vaguely tingling fingers. It took a fair amount of hand rubbing to get the blood to flow and warm up the digits, but they're working now, so it's good.
The one thing that really made my morning was, believe it or not, a hot flash. Don't let anyone kid you. Menopause during the winter isn't all bad because there are times when the timing is perfect. Like this morning or, my favorite, when it's two o'clock in the morning, the house is freezing, and you wake up because you have to use the bathroom and... hot flash! Your very own portable heater that makes the freezing room comfy while you take care of what needs taking care of. By the time you get back to bed the worst of it has passed and you're ready to settle in and go back to sleep. Those are the good times for a private power surge.
Of course there are the other times, the summer times when it's 100d outside and you're spiking into the internal ionosphere. That's no fun. Then it's all you can do not to strip off completely, no matter whether you're on the sidewalk, in a restaurant or meeting, or someplace private. And in the someplace private I will confess to having done that until the requirement passes. Cool cloths only do so much, after all.
Front and center, on the work side of things, The Project I worked on came back to me again, for the third time. I hate when that happens. I feel as if I've failed when, more than anything, it's probably just a miss-in-communication. My understanding of what's needed isn't as clear as it should be, and I don't know enough about what I'm doing to ask cogent questions. That's one of the problems with stepping into another person's responsibilities with someone you haven't worked with before and are expected to hit the ground running while wearing a blindfold. Zero training. Zero real explanation. Just here's this and this and this and... it's all yours.
I've been around the block enough that this isn't unusual. It's still difficult and uncomfortable, but not unusual so I've done what I thought needed to be done. Nope. Came back and I took another swat. Then, with clearer understanding, I asked a couple of questions, parroted back what I thought I'd heard and got the green light.
So, now that it's clear and I do understand that further analysis is required, I'll get started. I even have a plan (yay, me!). First, I'm going to analyze the hell out of it. How many which ways to Sunday? That's step one. Step two is doing it, checking it, and then I'll toss this fish back across the fence. Once that's done, I'll dust my hands and head to the sink to wash the scales away.
After that there are other things. Like The Stack which, because it reached the point of ANNOYING, I spent an hour working on this morning. Things are better. ==> That side of my desk is clear, except for the coffee cup rings I didn't know were there are now showing. Obligatory wash down and at least the plastic surface will be both clear and clean. <== That side of my desk is piled a touch higher, but it's all good because it's now all in one place.
There are other little things swirling, but the big ones have stopped popping for the moment. So now I'll head off to do my analysis of The Project and then I'm going to get started on The Stack. Maybe I'll even dig down to China (or Japan or Korea or whatever characters those things on those documents are).
Have a lovely day!
Best~
Philippa
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
Phrosty!
I'm PHREEZING and not happy. With layers and layers I barely stay warm (another sign that maybe the thyroid isn't working as it should?). Outside, it's a beautiful winter day - 53d and clear - and I don't want to go out into it because it's too darned cold!
Internally, things are better today than the other day. Still not thrilled with those things about which I can do nothing, so I'm alternately complaining about them and ignoring them. They still aren't going away but the complaining helps me come to terms, to wrap my brain around the enormity of the problem.
Some of my good news faded a bit. The carpet has been delayed because the truck the material is on is stuck somewhere east of here. Darned weather! Now it looks like next week - which creates the interesting problem of how to rearrange all the stuff in the small space we have to free the packed cube.
See, the person who usually sits in the cube currently filled with three credenzas and a conference table blocking it will be back Monday. I'm pretty sure she'd like to be able to use her desk. Just thinkin'.
Originally, the carpet was supposed to be installed tomorrow. Then I learned this morning that the carpet won't be here until next week - the seventh. After some backing-and-forthing I got it moved to the sixth. Yee haw. Then I threatened the sales person that if her installer isn't here on the sixth for any reason, I expect her here in her blue jeans and we'll install it ourselves!
Happily next week is still quiet after the holidays. The week after, though, is when things pick up again - meetings in the conference room that's currently standing empty.
Well, I'm determined. I'm going to buy a furniture dolly:
That's so I can move things around as needed without having to wait for other people to be available. One person can move mountains with one of those - stick it under the supporting panel of a conference table, lift the other end and, voila! You can move it all by yourself. Same with credenzas and weighted file cabinets.
Still have to get my Gantt chart worked out. That's hanging in the background and making me nervous. I know what's going to happen. I'm going to get caught up in other things, priorities and "must-dos" and it's going to languish until past the last minute. Then I'll be caught doing the ol' "huminah, huminah, huminah" that Jackie Gleason made famous on the Honeymooners.
I did get a good start, then got bogged down, distracted, dragged away to other things, more other things, and more, and now it's two weeks past when I wanted it to be done and it's still not finished. Bills. Entry. Then Gantt chart. That's the story. The Stack will wait. It's been there for a while, growing and diminishing, dependent upon time and things, so I'll get to that when I get to it.
After all, with The Stack, I have pawed through it often enough that I have some idea what's in there. It's just not organized and put away. Entered into my database, for instance, and files created.
I also have to re-figure some of my filing. I have a group of files that have too much important information on the tabs. It's all important information, but there is so much - specific document name (they're grouped by type) and number, country (which goes back to the Japanese / Taiwanese / Chinese / Korean conundrum I wrote about yesterday), firm name and file number. It's going to be an interesting challenge. Unless I want to set up a cross-reference system of some sort, which I'd rather not do.
Exciting times, aren't they?
I think they are and, in fact, I think they're so exciting I'm going to stop this and get back to them.
Have a lovely day and I hope you're enjoying yourself, too!
Best~
Philippa
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories
Internally, things are better today than the other day. Still not thrilled with those things about which I can do nothing, so I'm alternately complaining about them and ignoring them. They still aren't going away but the complaining helps me come to terms, to wrap my brain around the enormity of the problem.
Some of my good news faded a bit. The carpet has been delayed because the truck the material is on is stuck somewhere east of here. Darned weather! Now it looks like next week - which creates the interesting problem of how to rearrange all the stuff in the small space we have to free the packed cube.
See, the person who usually sits in the cube currently filled with three credenzas and a conference table blocking it will be back Monday. I'm pretty sure she'd like to be able to use her desk. Just thinkin'.
Originally, the carpet was supposed to be installed tomorrow. Then I learned this morning that the carpet won't be here until next week - the seventh. After some backing-and-forthing I got it moved to the sixth. Yee haw. Then I threatened the sales person that if her installer isn't here on the sixth for any reason, I expect her here in her blue jeans and we'll install it ourselves!
Happily next week is still quiet after the holidays. The week after, though, is when things pick up again - meetings in the conference room that's currently standing empty.
Well, I'm determined. I'm going to buy a furniture dolly:
Still have to get my Gantt chart worked out. That's hanging in the background and making me nervous. I know what's going to happen. I'm going to get caught up in other things, priorities and "must-dos" and it's going to languish until past the last minute. Then I'll be caught doing the ol' "huminah, huminah, huminah" that Jackie Gleason made famous on the Honeymooners.
I did get a good start, then got bogged down, distracted, dragged away to other things, more other things, and more, and now it's two weeks past when I wanted it to be done and it's still not finished. Bills. Entry. Then Gantt chart. That's the story. The Stack will wait. It's been there for a while, growing and diminishing, dependent upon time and things, so I'll get to that when I get to it.
After all, with The Stack, I have pawed through it often enough that I have some idea what's in there. It's just not organized and put away. Entered into my database, for instance, and files created.
I also have to re-figure some of my filing. I have a group of files that have too much important information on the tabs. It's all important information, but there is so much - specific document name (they're grouped by type) and number, country (which goes back to the Japanese / Taiwanese / Chinese / Korean conundrum I wrote about yesterday), firm name and file number. It's going to be an interesting challenge. Unless I want to set up a cross-reference system of some sort, which I'd rather not do.
Exciting times, aren't they?
I think they are and, in fact, I think they're so exciting I'm going to stop this and get back to them.
Have a lovely day and I hope you're enjoying yourself, too!
Best~
Philippa
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories
Monday, December 28, 2015
It's Just Life - So It's Okay
I grumped the other day, and then I whined, and now things are back under control. Sort of. I'm pretending, anyway.
Really, things haven't changed. I'm just accepting that there are certain things I can affect and others I can't. If I can't affect them, worrying and fretting and grumping and whining won't change them. It just diminishes my pleasure in other things. I'll let them go.
It's cold here today. It was cold enough overnight that the road crews were out spreading sand over the roadways. When I came over the ridge and started down into Calistoga there was snow on the palisades above town. Not a lot - just a touch here and there in the shadows, and Mt. St. Helena looked a bit paler than usual - not her usual dusky self.
We are supposed to get "rain" here, although it's so cold it probably won't rain. If we do get precipitation, it will probably come down as snow - a light dusting would be all since we're so low in altitude and relatively near the coast. That'll no doubt be enough, though. Enough to get us Californians seriously messed up and in the ditch because most people around here haven't a clue how to drive safely in the rain (slow down and leave more space between you and the other guys). The snow, if we get any, will be a real adventure (slow down even more and leave a lot more space between you and the other guys).
I did get good news and satisfaction today, so that's a plus.
The project about which I was grumping the other day is done and turned in. That's the satisfaction.
The good news is that the carpet I've ordered for the conference room here will be delivered and installed on Wednesday - in time for year end. Another bit of good news came via e-mail - a release from an obligation that is a rather pleasant surprise considering surrounding circumstance.
Now, I have a couple of phone calls to make, and get the year-end billing wrapped up (yeah, good luck with that!). But! If I get those done this week will be off to a good start.
It looks like our vendors want to get their year-end billing wrapped up, too. I got a boatload of paper today - all of which need to be reviewed and coded and entered and passed along. By ten o'clock tomorrow morning.
(So why are you writing this, Phil? Because I'm on my lunch hour, silly.)
Besides, whatever doesn't get processed (I'll take care of the big ones first) will be accrued - just like every other business.
Then I get to turn my attentions to The Stack. It's the pile anyone who works has. It's the catch-all and I don't care if it's an In-Tray, a Pending Box or just a corner of the desk, it's The Stack since you, just as I, probably deal with the easy stuff first. I don't even have an In-Tray because it's going to be The Stack whether or not it's contained. So I let it spread out and get comfy until I get to it.
Most of it will be straightforward. It's just those documents - a hefty portion - that are written in Asian characters. I haven't a clue whether it's Japanese, a form of Chinese (I have some documents from both Taiwan and Mainland China) or Korea - but I have to group them together somehow. That'll be interesting and that's the thing that's really kept me from diving into The Stack before now.
Unfortunately for me, my Stack is inherited and I'm not quite sure what it includes. Some of it I'm familiar with because I put it there after touching it and looking at it. A lot of it, though, arrived in the same boxes in which it's sitting. Someone left, I get The Stack from their desk. Someone moved, I get The Stack from their cube. Then there are the hefty portion that are in Asian characters. Hmm. If it were French or Italian or even Cyrillic I might stand a chance - change my keyboard and start entering letters (typing) and see what comes up and match, then translate. Unfortunately, with the similarities between the several and my total lack of code deciphering skills...
Last week I dreamed I would have this week to whittle The Stack down to size. Hah! Then I got my project. Then I thought, "Yay!" Then I got the mail. "Damn."
Oh well. That is the Truth about Stacks. Never mind if you clear it up this week, it will start to regrow (kind of like a mold or something) next week. It's like dust - inevitable and self-recurring.
As for me and my other world, I'm giving it over. I cannot keep worrying about things over which I have no control. If I can control it, even a little, I can fix it. If I can't, then worrying is a waste of time, attention and energy. I'll set it aside and deal with it when the time comes.
I even wrote a little (about two hundred words) this weekend. The first time I've felt like writing anything in several weeks, so maybe there is a bright horizon out there. We'll see.
In the meantime, I'm going to get started on the billing and then dive into The Stack.
Have a lovely day!
Best~
Philippa
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories
Really, things haven't changed. I'm just accepting that there are certain things I can affect and others I can't. If I can't affect them, worrying and fretting and grumping and whining won't change them. It just diminishes my pleasure in other things. I'll let them go.
It's cold here today. It was cold enough overnight that the road crews were out spreading sand over the roadways. When I came over the ridge and started down into Calistoga there was snow on the palisades above town. Not a lot - just a touch here and there in the shadows, and Mt. St. Helena looked a bit paler than usual - not her usual dusky self.
We are supposed to get "rain" here, although it's so cold it probably won't rain. If we do get precipitation, it will probably come down as snow - a light dusting would be all since we're so low in altitude and relatively near the coast. That'll no doubt be enough, though. Enough to get us Californians seriously messed up and in the ditch because most people around here haven't a clue how to drive safely in the rain (slow down and leave more space between you and the other guys). The snow, if we get any, will be a real adventure (slow down even more and leave a lot more space between you and the other guys).
I did get good news and satisfaction today, so that's a plus.
The project about which I was grumping the other day is done and turned in. That's the satisfaction.
The good news is that the carpet I've ordered for the conference room here will be delivered and installed on Wednesday - in time for year end. Another bit of good news came via e-mail - a release from an obligation that is a rather pleasant surprise considering surrounding circumstance.
Now, I have a couple of phone calls to make, and get the year-end billing wrapped up (yeah, good luck with that!). But! If I get those done this week will be off to a good start.
It looks like our vendors want to get their year-end billing wrapped up, too. I got a boatload of paper today - all of which need to be reviewed and coded and entered and passed along. By ten o'clock tomorrow morning.
(So why are you writing this, Phil? Because I'm on my lunch hour, silly.)
Besides, whatever doesn't get processed (I'll take care of the big ones first) will be accrued - just like every other business.
Then I get to turn my attentions to The Stack. It's the pile anyone who works has. It's the catch-all and I don't care if it's an In-Tray, a Pending Box or just a corner of the desk, it's The Stack since you, just as I, probably deal with the easy stuff first. I don't even have an In-Tray because it's going to be The Stack whether or not it's contained. So I let it spread out and get comfy until I get to it.
Most of it will be straightforward. It's just those documents - a hefty portion - that are written in Asian characters. I haven't a clue whether it's Japanese, a form of Chinese (I have some documents from both Taiwan and Mainland China) or Korea - but I have to group them together somehow. That'll be interesting and that's the thing that's really kept me from diving into The Stack before now.
Unfortunately for me, my Stack is inherited and I'm not quite sure what it includes. Some of it I'm familiar with because I put it there after touching it and looking at it. A lot of it, though, arrived in the same boxes in which it's sitting. Someone left, I get The Stack from their desk. Someone moved, I get The Stack from their cube. Then there are the hefty portion that are in Asian characters. Hmm. If it were French or Italian or even Cyrillic I might stand a chance - change my keyboard and start entering letters (typing) and see what comes up and match, then translate. Unfortunately, with the similarities between the several and my total lack of code deciphering skills...
Last week I dreamed I would have this week to whittle The Stack down to size. Hah! Then I got my project. Then I thought, "Yay!" Then I got the mail. "Damn."
Oh well. That is the Truth about Stacks. Never mind if you clear it up this week, it will start to regrow (kind of like a mold or something) next week. It's like dust - inevitable and self-recurring.
As for me and my other world, I'm giving it over. I cannot keep worrying about things over which I have no control. If I can control it, even a little, I can fix it. If I can't, then worrying is a waste of time, attention and energy. I'll set it aside and deal with it when the time comes.
I even wrote a little (about two hundred words) this weekend. The first time I've felt like writing anything in several weeks, so maybe there is a bright horizon out there. We'll see.
In the meantime, I'm going to get started on the billing and then dive into The Stack.
Have a lovely day!
Best~
Philippa
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories
Sunday, December 27, 2015
A Woman Exercising
Okay. I ended up taking yesterday off from this, too. Guilty as charged. Although I seriously doubt anyone really missed this drivel, but I'll pretend hard that they did.
Mind changing is said to be a woman's prerogative, but we all know that it's equally in the purview of men. It's just that we women talk about it while we think things over and guys don't. They just do it. Just like I did mid-stream yesterday.
I sat down here and started off yesterday in a philosophical mood. Grateful for the things that I have and wishing everyone could have at least the basics. Shelter, clothes, food, you know, the basics for a life that can be worked on and grown and developed into something more.
Then I started in again on politics and terrorism and got depressed. Yes, I actually developed a case of depression that's still with me this morning.
I do have a lot for which to be thankful. I am not "lucky". I work hard and strive to meet my responsibilities and obligations and do reasonably well at it. Of course there's room for improvement. There always is, so that is something I can strive for.
I'm healthy. I have a healthy daughter who is happily married and who is going to make me a Grandma in a couple of months. I saw her and her hubby yesterday. He is as he always is, a bit reserved. She looks marvelous - baby bump and all.
Then I had to race home again because my hubby isn't happy. He was downright "bothered" (as in sulky) when I got home because he expects that because he doesn't want to have a relationship with daughter, I shouldn't either. * Shrug * Well, good luck with that.
But it was bothersome. All the time I was talking with daughter my stomach was knotting and churning because I knew when I got home I was going to face some form of a pissed off hubby. Sometimes, as yesterday, he's just silently grouchy. Other times he gets downright nasty. One time, when daughter took me out for breakfast for Mother's Day, he went off on a two hour tirade. In that, he threatened me with divorce because I had spent two pleasant hours in the company of the young woman whom I am proud to call daughter.
And that's one reason I'm depressed. In fact, thinking of it, it's the only reason I'm depressed. The life I live is "challenging", at the very best.
Between MIL and hubby. I'm constantly trying to wobble along the sharp edge of a razor blade, striving to meet the balance between happy and tolerance. Right now it feels as if I'm standing on one foot, arms extended, staring at my feet and fighting to find my balance so I don't fall.
There's a lot of garbage there, a lot of history and background and it's not worth bringing up here. Take it on trust, and that's what's affecting me.
Now this isn't a depression that's going to make me do anything stupid or irredeemable. It's just a depression that I know I have to work through. It's a case of minute-by-minute, hour-by-hour and one day at a time until some of the things I'm waiting for come clear. And that, right there, is the genesis of this. I just do not cope well with uncertainty and things are about as uncertain as they can be. The things on which I'm waiting keep moving so I can't identify a date-certain and say, "then". It's ambiguous and fluid and I don't deal well with stuff like that, so I'm less than pleased.
This too shall pass and it's another case of that which does not kill me will make me stronger. As I've said a few times since 2012 started, by the time I hit eighty I'm going to be about the strongest woman on the planet. I just have to keep my eye on the prize, focus on the future - perhaps fifteen or eighteen months off. That gives me time to plan, to decide what and how and so on.
Then, thinking of me in my little microcosm, I feel guilty because I really don't have it all that bad. My "misery" is self-centered and pretty damned unimportant when I think of the broader world.
So many people have lost homes and families this Christmas. Between the wildfires in Australia and Southern California and the horrendous devastation there, the tornadoes in the Southeast - Texas in particular. I have the news on while I'm writing and the horror of the tornadoes that whipped through Dallas last night, picking up cars off of an overpass and dropping them straight down onto cars lined up on the roadway below, killing the people in both vehicles.
There's all the crap going on in the Middle East and the fighting that are leaving dozens of people dead every day.
And I'm worried about this stuff? Really? Well... It's not a prideful time, but yes, really.
I can't do anything for the people in the Middle East. I cannot do anything to affect or alleviate the wildfires or tornadoes. I feel badly for those caught up in those crises, but I can have no direct affect on them except to donate blood or money or both. While my feelings are selfish, they are also real, front and center. So I'll focus and plan. I'll look up and forward instead of remaining as I am, staring at my one foot that's so wobbly.
So, yes, really and probably not all that different from many other people. I'm not proud. I'm not happy. But I am, as always, honest and, like other people who are in similar circumstance and situation, striving for that balance.
Don't worry, though. I'll find it. In the meantime, I'm going to go play Farm Heroes Saga and see if I can't beat that next level.
Have a lovely day!
Best~
Philippa
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories
Mind changing is said to be a woman's prerogative, but we all know that it's equally in the purview of men. It's just that we women talk about it while we think things over and guys don't. They just do it. Just like I did mid-stream yesterday.
I sat down here and started off yesterday in a philosophical mood. Grateful for the things that I have and wishing everyone could have at least the basics. Shelter, clothes, food, you know, the basics for a life that can be worked on and grown and developed into something more.
Then I started in again on politics and terrorism and got depressed. Yes, I actually developed a case of depression that's still with me this morning.
I do have a lot for which to be thankful. I am not "lucky". I work hard and strive to meet my responsibilities and obligations and do reasonably well at it. Of course there's room for improvement. There always is, so that is something I can strive for.
I'm healthy. I have a healthy daughter who is happily married and who is going to make me a Grandma in a couple of months. I saw her and her hubby yesterday. He is as he always is, a bit reserved. She looks marvelous - baby bump and all.
Then I had to race home again because my hubby isn't happy. He was downright "bothered" (as in sulky) when I got home because he expects that because he doesn't want to have a relationship with daughter, I shouldn't either. * Shrug * Well, good luck with that.
But it was bothersome. All the time I was talking with daughter my stomach was knotting and churning because I knew when I got home I was going to face some form of a pissed off hubby. Sometimes, as yesterday, he's just silently grouchy. Other times he gets downright nasty. One time, when daughter took me out for breakfast for Mother's Day, he went off on a two hour tirade. In that, he threatened me with divorce because I had spent two pleasant hours in the company of the young woman whom I am proud to call daughter.
And that's one reason I'm depressed. In fact, thinking of it, it's the only reason I'm depressed. The life I live is "challenging", at the very best.
Between MIL and hubby. I'm constantly trying to wobble along the sharp edge of a razor blade, striving to meet the balance between happy and tolerance. Right now it feels as if I'm standing on one foot, arms extended, staring at my feet and fighting to find my balance so I don't fall.
There's a lot of garbage there, a lot of history and background and it's not worth bringing up here. Take it on trust, and that's what's affecting me.
Now this isn't a depression that's going to make me do anything stupid or irredeemable. It's just a depression that I know I have to work through. It's a case of minute-by-minute, hour-by-hour and one day at a time until some of the things I'm waiting for come clear. And that, right there, is the genesis of this. I just do not cope well with uncertainty and things are about as uncertain as they can be. The things on which I'm waiting keep moving so I can't identify a date-certain and say, "then". It's ambiguous and fluid and I don't deal well with stuff like that, so I'm less than pleased.
This too shall pass and it's another case of that which does not kill me will make me stronger. As I've said a few times since 2012 started, by the time I hit eighty I'm going to be about the strongest woman on the planet. I just have to keep my eye on the prize, focus on the future - perhaps fifteen or eighteen months off. That gives me time to plan, to decide what and how and so on.
Then, thinking of me in my little microcosm, I feel guilty because I really don't have it all that bad. My "misery" is self-centered and pretty damned unimportant when I think of the broader world.
So many people have lost homes and families this Christmas. Between the wildfires in Australia and Southern California and the horrendous devastation there, the tornadoes in the Southeast - Texas in particular. I have the news on while I'm writing and the horror of the tornadoes that whipped through Dallas last night, picking up cars off of an overpass and dropping them straight down onto cars lined up on the roadway below, killing the people in both vehicles.
There's all the crap going on in the Middle East and the fighting that are leaving dozens of people dead every day.
And I'm worried about this stuff? Really? Well... It's not a prideful time, but yes, really.
I can't do anything for the people in the Middle East. I cannot do anything to affect or alleviate the wildfires or tornadoes. I feel badly for those caught up in those crises, but I can have no direct affect on them except to donate blood or money or both. While my feelings are selfish, they are also real, front and center. So I'll focus and plan. I'll look up and forward instead of remaining as I am, staring at my one foot that's so wobbly.
So, yes, really and probably not all that different from many other people. I'm not proud. I'm not happy. But I am, as always, honest and, like other people who are in similar circumstance and situation, striving for that balance.
Don't worry, though. I'll find it. In the meantime, I'm going to go play Farm Heroes Saga and see if I can't beat that next level.
Have a lovely day!
Best~
Philippa
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories
Thursday, December 24, 2015
Do You Know What I Like About Donald Trump?
There are a lot of things I like about The Donald, even including his crudity because it's honest. It's a case of tongue=>brain v. brain=>tongue. He almost always speaks from the heart instead of calculating and weighing everything that he's going to say before letting it escape.
Consider the other day when all the press was up in arms because he spoke a Truth about what happened to Hilliary back in 2008. She got whipped by Obie-One. Despite fighting hard, she got "schlonged" and lost the election. Because Donald Trump said something publicly in the heat of a political season that at least one person said back in 2011 there is a plethora of panty twisting going on here in America and across The Pond in the U.K.
So what was said back then in 2011? Golly - here it is:
"...according to The Washington Post:
So, as you can see from that, it was first used by NPR, a left-wing media outlet in reference to another political campaign which also happened to be a Democrat ticket. Now, can we all say "double-standard"?
In recent days, all of the media talking heads have had their figurative hands over their mouths in shock at the fact that he used such a disgusting term! As if they have never once said or thought something equally as foul. Not on camera because they would get fired, but come on - in private they've never said or thought anything like that? Even Grandma in Iowa has heard (and probably used) the words before. This Pre-Cultural Revolution pretense at shock-talk is stupid. It is utterly false and pathetically disingenuous.
So back to Donald. In my view, above all the other characteristics a human being can have, the most important trait is honesty. I don't care who you are or what you look like, I care about how truthful you are - not just in deed but in word. And, if you have a habit of saying precisely what you think without filter, that's just fine. I'm a grown up and have heard (and used) all the words before. It's not new, it's not shocking and that's another point of laughter for me because I know that all these idiots that are pretending shock are lying about their reaction. They've used the words before, too.
No matter. Donald Trump is crude, coarse and would do far better in a barnyard amongst the pigs and muck than at a state dinner when it comes to his speech habits. He does routinely denigrate women while saying that he admires them, but I think that's the same as some people in various communities referring to friends in less than sparkling terms. Like some young men referring to their friends as "motherfucker" or women calling friends "bitch" or worse. Common pejoratives are routinely turned on their head and used as compliments. In sport, for instance, I've heard illiterate broadcasters say that a player is "filthy good". I've been down this path - it's a stupid use of that adjective, but it is what it is.
Donald speaks from his heart, not from his brain. If he spoke from his brain, weighing every single last thing that he says, he would be no different at all from every other calculating politician. But it's refreshing, in my view, to have someone who does speak plainly.
The other thing in this that I find amusing is that all the media are rushing to Hilliary's aid and comfort, saying what a nasty horrible man Donald is. As if we don't all know that already, and as if that woman needs aid and comfort.
She has skin a mile thick. She's been in the arena of public politics - both with her husband and on her own for long enough that I'm confident she hasn't a single chink in her armor.
If she has had her feelings hurt by Donald Trump then she had better throw in the towel on her campaign right now because there's a whole lot worse in the world than him.
At least with Trump's in-your-face approach to things, you know where he stands and what he's thinking. If it's over the top, you can go toe-to-toe with him, call him out and demand an explanation because there's little wiggle room. With the squishy-touchy-feelie language used by most other people, it's harder to pin down and demand explanation. Which is why I do like Donald's up front approach to things. You know where you stand. You know what he thinks. There's no ambiguity and right now, for this world, we need clarity and I think Donald is the guy to bring it.
So that's what I like about Donald Trump.
Now - have a lovely Christmas! I'm taking tomorrow off, but I'll be back Saturday.
Best~
Philippa
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories
Consider the other day when all the press was up in arms because he spoke a Truth about what happened to Hilliary back in 2008. She got whipped by Obie-One. Despite fighting hard, she got "schlonged" and lost the election. Because Donald Trump said something publicly in the heat of a political season that at least one person said back in 2011 there is a plethora of panty twisting going on here in America and across The Pond in the U.K.
So what was said back then in 2011? Golly - here it is:
"...according to The Washington Post:
Only one use of "schlonged" as a verb came from a respected political source. In 2011, NPR's Neal Conan made this observation (to The Post's Chris Cillizza) on the 1984 Walter Mondale/Geraldine Ferraro campaign: "That ticket went on to get schlonged at the polls..."http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/news/a40714/donald-trump-schlonged-definition/
So, as you can see from that, it was first used by NPR, a left-wing media outlet in reference to another political campaign which also happened to be a Democrat ticket. Now, can we all say "double-standard"?
In recent days, all of the media talking heads have had their figurative hands over their mouths in shock at the fact that he used such a disgusting term! As if they have never once said or thought something equally as foul. Not on camera because they would get fired, but come on - in private they've never said or thought anything like that? Even Grandma in Iowa has heard (and probably used) the words before. This Pre-Cultural Revolution pretense at shock-talk is stupid. It is utterly false and pathetically disingenuous.
So back to Donald. In my view, above all the other characteristics a human being can have, the most important trait is honesty. I don't care who you are or what you look like, I care about how truthful you are - not just in deed but in word. And, if you have a habit of saying precisely what you think without filter, that's just fine. I'm a grown up and have heard (and used) all the words before. It's not new, it's not shocking and that's another point of laughter for me because I know that all these idiots that are pretending shock are lying about their reaction. They've used the words before, too.
No matter. Donald Trump is crude, coarse and would do far better in a barnyard amongst the pigs and muck than at a state dinner when it comes to his speech habits. He does routinely denigrate women while saying that he admires them, but I think that's the same as some people in various communities referring to friends in less than sparkling terms. Like some young men referring to their friends as "motherfucker" or women calling friends "bitch" or worse. Common pejoratives are routinely turned on their head and used as compliments. In sport, for instance, I've heard illiterate broadcasters say that a player is "filthy good". I've been down this path - it's a stupid use of that adjective, but it is what it is.
Donald speaks from his heart, not from his brain. If he spoke from his brain, weighing every single last thing that he says, he would be no different at all from every other calculating politician. But it's refreshing, in my view, to have someone who does speak plainly.
The other thing in this that I find amusing is that all the media are rushing to Hilliary's aid and comfort, saying what a nasty horrible man Donald is. As if we don't all know that already, and as if that woman needs aid and comfort.
She has skin a mile thick. She's been in the arena of public politics - both with her husband and on her own for long enough that I'm confident she hasn't a single chink in her armor.
If she has had her feelings hurt by Donald Trump then she had better throw in the towel on her campaign right now because there's a whole lot worse in the world than him.
At least with Trump's in-your-face approach to things, you know where he stands and what he's thinking. If it's over the top, you can go toe-to-toe with him, call him out and demand an explanation because there's little wiggle room. With the squishy-touchy-feelie language used by most other people, it's harder to pin down and demand explanation. Which is why I do like Donald's up front approach to things. You know where you stand. You know what he thinks. There's no ambiguity and right now, for this world, we need clarity and I think Donald is the guy to bring it.
So that's what I like about Donald Trump.
Now - have a lovely Christmas! I'm taking tomorrow off, but I'll be back Saturday.
Best~
Philippa
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
Ah ha! Now I Remember!
grumpgrumpgrumpgrumpgrumpgrump... (<= ellipsis means it goes forever)
I really shouldn't complain, you know, even though I am grumpy right now. My eyes hurt because I have spent the last six hours looking at little tiny number series in two different documents comparing A to B to make sure they match. Am I sick or weird for loving nitsy details and granular investigation like that? I really do love it although I don't know why. I also have to say that I think I'm pretty good at it. However, after spending today with my eyes plastered to a screen staring at groups of little mouse-print numbers and comparing this one to that one, I'm tired. Then, what got me going on the grump-train is that just when I though I was finished, I was asked to look at something new - which should have been instinctive but wasn't. So I get to do it again. Oh joy.
grumpgrumpgrumpgrump...
Lesson learned! Don't forget that little detail in the bigger excitement. Lesson will be reinforced by doing it again, although it will be marginally easier since I know where the bodies are buried in this mess.
Then, when I'm done, it'll all be good. What's bugging me, if I'm honest, is the fact that I'm going back and checking, in minute detail, someone else's work. I don't usually mind checking someone's work if it's broad strokes and broad brush, but when it's detailed and nitsy - like picking fly-poop from the pepper nitsy - that's when I get grumpy because I always think "I wouldn't have made this many mistakes!" Although I probably would have, being human and fallible.
Checking other people's work is hard - particularly when it's work that stretches over two years and across a whole long list of customers. About 1500 Excel spreadsheet lines worth after being filtered, if I guess right.
But you know what? I did enjoy that exercise. It's weird because on the one hand, and probably because I just came off it, I am not thrilled with having to go back. On the other, I am actually kind of looking forward to it. Do I need my head examined? Ya think?
Probably. Along with juggling the knives of moving chess pieces around - disconnecting utilities here, connecting utilities there, arranging for new service and making sure it's all done in a short amount of time.
It's another thing I'm good at doing, though.
Yeah. It is all about me today. But that's okay because if you want it to be about you, you can start a blog, too.
So, I'll finish up the eye-strain exercise this afternoon, and then I'll have the next four days off. I'm looking forward to that. Hanging around the house, eating more than I should, knowing it and doing it anyway. If it's not raining, maybe I'll go for a walk or two or three.
We're "supposed" to get rain tomorrow night and it's "supposed" to be cold enough in these parts that we might actually have a white Christmas! Wouldn't that be cool?
One of my best memories is from about eighteen years ago - 1998 or so. I woke up early and couldn't sleep so got up. It was around four o'clock in the morning - before anyone else was up or out either.
I wandered into the kitchen, not turning on any lights and looked outside. I couldn't believe it! I moved closer to the windows and there, glimmering in the streetlight was snow falling. Little butterflies of snow whispering down in our backyard. I hurried to the front of the house and looked out, down the street, and it looked like a Christmas card. No one had driven in it - it was perfect and pristine, and I had it all to myself.
Even though it only ended up being about four inches, all the schools were closed for two days, so Daughter got a pair of "snow days" here in coastal California while I had the special privilege of trying to drive in it! We still have pictures of her snowmen that she made in our back yard. Ungainly, awkward things with blades of grass stuck in them since she had to dig down to ground level to get enough snow to make them, but they were real and they hung around for three days after construction.
I'll have to dig them up from the photo albums (remember those!??) we have stuck on the shelves in the bedroom and scan them.
Right now, though, the wind is freezing cold but it's crystal clear outside - a beautiful winter day, which makes a nice change from the rain we got.
I heard yesterday that Lake Tahoe, which is way-y-y-y-y down because of the drought picked up "6.3 billion gallons of water". I fact checked that one and one of the people in the know up there said it was probably closer to 4 billion gallons but that is still one heck of a lot of water. And it only boosted the lake level by about two inches!
The following picture taken in October 2014 is from the Tahoe Regional Planning Association's website:
Obviously, those docks are not supposed to be out of the water.
Here's another that's more telling. The normal water level is indicated by the top of the white marks on the pilings under the pier.
So, the lake is up two inches. Another few billion gallons and we'll be getting somewhere. And that's what we're hoping for. That and lots and lots of snow pack so the Central Valley will have water for next summer.
We are expecting more rain in the next few days, and even more in January and February if the weather gurus predicting the El Nino have it right. We won't get as much as Southern California, but it should still be respectable and will, I hope, have a pretty solid effect on the dryness around here.
In the meantime, I have to get back to those nitsy details and looking forward to having some time off.
Be well and have a wonderful Christmas if you don't check in between now and then!
Best~
Philippa
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories
I really shouldn't complain, you know, even though I am grumpy right now. My eyes hurt because I have spent the last six hours looking at little tiny number series in two different documents comparing A to B to make sure they match. Am I sick or weird for loving nitsy details and granular investigation like that? I really do love it although I don't know why. I also have to say that I think I'm pretty good at it. However, after spending today with my eyes plastered to a screen staring at groups of little mouse-print numbers and comparing this one to that one, I'm tired. Then, what got me going on the grump-train is that just when I though I was finished, I was asked to look at something new - which should have been instinctive but wasn't. So I get to do it again. Oh joy.
grumpgrumpgrumpgrump...
Lesson learned! Don't forget that little detail in the bigger excitement. Lesson will be reinforced by doing it again, although it will be marginally easier since I know where the bodies are buried in this mess.
Then, when I'm done, it'll all be good. What's bugging me, if I'm honest, is the fact that I'm going back and checking, in minute detail, someone else's work. I don't usually mind checking someone's work if it's broad strokes and broad brush, but when it's detailed and nitsy - like picking fly-poop from the pepper nitsy - that's when I get grumpy because I always think "I wouldn't have made this many mistakes!" Although I probably would have, being human and fallible.
Checking other people's work is hard - particularly when it's work that stretches over two years and across a whole long list of customers. About 1500 Excel spreadsheet lines worth after being filtered, if I guess right.
But you know what? I did enjoy that exercise. It's weird because on the one hand, and probably because I just came off it, I am not thrilled with having to go back. On the other, I am actually kind of looking forward to it. Do I need my head examined? Ya think?
Probably. Along with juggling the knives of moving chess pieces around - disconnecting utilities here, connecting utilities there, arranging for new service and making sure it's all done in a short amount of time.
It's another thing I'm good at doing, though.
Yeah. It is all about me today. But that's okay because if you want it to be about you, you can start a blog, too.
So, I'll finish up the eye-strain exercise this afternoon, and then I'll have the next four days off. I'm looking forward to that. Hanging around the house, eating more than I should, knowing it and doing it anyway. If it's not raining, maybe I'll go for a walk or two or three.
We're "supposed" to get rain tomorrow night and it's "supposed" to be cold enough in these parts that we might actually have a white Christmas! Wouldn't that be cool?
One of my best memories is from about eighteen years ago - 1998 or so. I woke up early and couldn't sleep so got up. It was around four o'clock in the morning - before anyone else was up or out either.
I wandered into the kitchen, not turning on any lights and looked outside. I couldn't believe it! I moved closer to the windows and there, glimmering in the streetlight was snow falling. Little butterflies of snow whispering down in our backyard. I hurried to the front of the house and looked out, down the street, and it looked like a Christmas card. No one had driven in it - it was perfect and pristine, and I had it all to myself.
Even though it only ended up being about four inches, all the schools were closed for two days, so Daughter got a pair of "snow days" here in coastal California while I had the special privilege of trying to drive in it! We still have pictures of her snowmen that she made in our back yard. Ungainly, awkward things with blades of grass stuck in them since she had to dig down to ground level to get enough snow to make them, but they were real and they hung around for three days after construction.
I'll have to dig them up from the photo albums (remember those!??) we have stuck on the shelves in the bedroom and scan them.
Right now, though, the wind is freezing cold but it's crystal clear outside - a beautiful winter day, which makes a nice change from the rain we got.
I heard yesterday that Lake Tahoe, which is way-y-y-y-y down because of the drought picked up "6.3 billion gallons of water". I fact checked that one and one of the people in the know up there said it was probably closer to 4 billion gallons but that is still one heck of a lot of water. And it only boosted the lake level by about two inches!
The following picture taken in October 2014 is from the Tahoe Regional Planning Association's website:
Obviously, those docks are not supposed to be out of the water.
Here's another that's more telling. The normal water level is indicated by the top of the white marks on the pilings under the pier.
 |
| www.kcra.com |
So, the lake is up two inches. Another few billion gallons and we'll be getting somewhere. And that's what we're hoping for. That and lots and lots of snow pack so the Central Valley will have water for next summer.
We are expecting more rain in the next few days, and even more in January and February if the weather gurus predicting the El Nino have it right. We won't get as much as Southern California, but it should still be respectable and will, I hope, have a pretty solid effect on the dryness around here.
In the meantime, I have to get back to those nitsy details and looking forward to having some time off.
Be well and have a wonderful Christmas if you don't check in between now and then!
Best~
Philippa
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
Don't Lie to Me, Okay?
Since it's around Christmas time and everyone gives and gets food and food baskets, we're all eating more than we probably should - grazing through the cookies and candy and stuff. While I graze I read. I want to know what it is that I'm eating and yesterday I came across something that was more than a little disturbing.
Here's the back of the package:
Now look closer:
Yum! Butter! Uhhhh, Not.
Nowhere in this list of ingredients does it say milk or butter or cream or anything cow related - even though the package comes with an allergen warning which declares the product contains milk:
Now to most people this isn't bothersome. To me it is. It's like GMOs to some people. I don't get up in arms about that because if you want to get really technical, hybrid plants are GMOs. Like most of the vegetables you buy at the grocery - including the "organic" veggies. Before laboratories sprang up, Luther Burbank was busily cross-pollinating plants to bring out certain qualities, like resistance to disease, or faster growing or other stuff. We're still growing and eating the strains of plants he created via cross-pollination (tomatoes being one).
Anyway. It all comes down to truth in advertising. Food labeling is taken very seriously by the FDA and this could qualify as a game changer for this company. You do not lie to the consumer when you package your product.
What's even more interesting is that I went to this company's website which is shown on the other side panel of the box, and this product isn't even listed. Which raises another red flag. Just where did this stuff come from?
According to the expiration panel on the box, these will allegedly stay fresh for another year (eww), so it's not like this is an old product. Baked goods usually keep for six months to one year and then they expire. Anything beyond that means the product probably contains plastic or something. I'm joking, really - it's just a joke! But think about it - how long can a baked product be expected to keep under ordinary circumstance?).
I work in the food industry and I spoke to our Director of Quality about this - sent her the images I have here - and she was the one who pointed out the discrepancy between the ingredients list and the allergen panel (which I had missed). This is serious stuff.
So, being me, I filed a complaint with the FDA. You don't mess with the food people eat. Not here in America, anyway. Now we'll see. Given how our complaint against the nursing home went after they nearly killed my MIL, I expect this will take months to get going, but whatever. I have the pictures.
And the "dig" at the nursing home is true. If you care, the post in which I talk about it can be found here: https://philippastories.blogspot.com/2015/06/friday.html
That complaint took more than a year before we got the report that said that they had verified our claim and said if we wanted to file suit we would have a leg on which to stand. We chose (hubby and MIL, actually) not to. It would have been too difficult for MIL to go through the process, so we declined.
Anyway. I'm not holding my breath. In the meantime, I will be more diligently reading the package labels of the stuff that I shove in my pie hole and if one of the primary ingredients is claimed - butter (a primary component of shortbread) - but is missing from the ingredients, I won't be scarfing that down.
Fortunately, I ate one of these things yesterday and I'm still here to complain about it, so it didn't kill me. Maybe I'm stronger? Hmmm. Nah. Probably not.
So read the panels, compare the claims to the labeling and eat well!
Best~
Philippa
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories
Here's the back of the package:
Now look closer:
Yum! Butter! Uhhhh, Not.
Now to most people this isn't bothersome. To me it is. It's like GMOs to some people. I don't get up in arms about that because if you want to get really technical, hybrid plants are GMOs. Like most of the vegetables you buy at the grocery - including the "organic" veggies. Before laboratories sprang up, Luther Burbank was busily cross-pollinating plants to bring out certain qualities, like resistance to disease, or faster growing or other stuff. We're still growing and eating the strains of plants he created via cross-pollination (tomatoes being one).
Anyway. It all comes down to truth in advertising. Food labeling is taken very seriously by the FDA and this could qualify as a game changer for this company. You do not lie to the consumer when you package your product.
What's even more interesting is that I went to this company's website which is shown on the other side panel of the box, and this product isn't even listed. Which raises another red flag. Just where did this stuff come from?
According to the expiration panel on the box, these will allegedly stay fresh for another year (eww), so it's not like this is an old product. Baked goods usually keep for six months to one year and then they expire. Anything beyond that means the product probably contains plastic or something. I'm joking, really - it's just a joke! But think about it - how long can a baked product be expected to keep under ordinary circumstance?).
I work in the food industry and I spoke to our Director of Quality about this - sent her the images I have here - and she was the one who pointed out the discrepancy between the ingredients list and the allergen panel (which I had missed). This is serious stuff.
So, being me, I filed a complaint with the FDA. You don't mess with the food people eat. Not here in America, anyway. Now we'll see. Given how our complaint against the nursing home went after they nearly killed my MIL, I expect this will take months to get going, but whatever. I have the pictures.
And the "dig" at the nursing home is true. If you care, the post in which I talk about it can be found here: https://philippastories.blogspot.com/2015/06/friday.html
That complaint took more than a year before we got the report that said that they had verified our claim and said if we wanted to file suit we would have a leg on which to stand. We chose (hubby and MIL, actually) not to. It would have been too difficult for MIL to go through the process, so we declined.
Anyway. I'm not holding my breath. In the meantime, I will be more diligently reading the package labels of the stuff that I shove in my pie hole and if one of the primary ingredients is claimed - butter (a primary component of shortbread) - but is missing from the ingredients, I won't be scarfing that down.
Fortunately, I ate one of these things yesterday and I'm still here to complain about it, so it didn't kill me. Maybe I'm stronger? Hmmm. Nah. Probably not.
So read the panels, compare the claims to the labeling and eat well!
Best~
Philippa
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories
Monday, December 21, 2015
The Clinton Dynasty - Vacancy at the DNC
I watched Saturday night's debate even though it was, according to some media reports, an effort on the part of the DNC to prevent people from watching Hilliary in action. Thinking about it, I think they might be right. Otherwise, what is the purpose of holding a debate on the Saturday night before Christmas? That's not going to generate a lot of interest and this is, I think, how the DNC and Hilliary Clinton wanted it.
After all, on the Saturday before Christmas, people are starting to shift into high gear for The Day. They're getting ready to travel over the river and through the woods to Grandma's. They're in panic mode over the last minute shopping for gifts and food and starting to plan menus and fend off the kid's questions. They are not, at this point, paying attention to politics and an election that's still a year away. So it was (quite a lot more than) a bit of obfuscation on the part of the DNC and Clinton campaign.
It's inevitable, no matter what anyone says, that Hilliary is going to be The Anointed One for the Democrat ticket. Sanders and O'Malley are only there as props to kind of try to hide the fact that Hilliary is The Anointed One.
Watching Berns again the other night, the best I can say is that he is weak-willed and limp-wristed. He has no drive or interest in winning the nomination. If he did, if he really wants to win the race, he would attack Hilliary, not suck up to her. He would slam her over the e-mail server and Benghazi. He wouldn't skim over issues like that. He wants to be VP so he can promote the things that interest him without the pressure of being in The Big Chair, and that's as high as his aspirations go.
Besides, it's a done deal. After the debate another one of the endless polls was taken and Hilliary won the debate among the 760 poll respondents, by a LOT.
When asked, the respondent's answered 62% to 30% that Hilliary won.
http://www.oann.com/dncdebate/
So we're almost certainly going to have another Clinton in the fight for the White House. Somehow, I don't think this is what the Founders envisioned. They set up the government model so one family or two would not dominate the landscape. Still, we've had the Bush Dynasty - GHW and GW. I'm grateful Jeb is doing as poorly as he is. We do not need Royal Families running this country. So we just have to worry about Hilliary and Bill - the Clinton Dynasty.
However, Hilliary is hauling around an entire trainload of baggage and it's all open to question and ridicule. Except no one is questioning or ridiculing and that's a bit disturbing. It's also one of the reasons I hope Trump wins the GOP nomination.
He will not be afraid to take her on and call her out on all the garbage with its swirling clouds of flies. After all, he has nothing to lose - so many in this country don't like her, so to see her brought down would please a lot of people, even if they will be among those who vote for her when the time comes. They'll vote for her for the wrong reasons - being The Anointed Democrat Candidate and Having Ovaries. Party lines are strong, after all.
As far as Hilliary and her baggage train goes, there was the White Water financial scandal which led to the savings and loan crash that shook the U.S. financial markets for more than a couple of years. In that, there were questions about Hilliary's participation and knowledge. She was elbow deep in the mess and records from the Rose Law firm where she worked were subpoenaed. For nearly a year she denied knowing where they were or having them in her possession, yet they "magically" appeared a year after the subpoena in her White House office.
Vince Foster, one of her associates at the Rose Law firm who was embroiled in the White Water scandal ended up dead in Fort Marcy Park outside of Washington DC. Even though it was ruled a suicide, there are still unanswered questions about it. However, it's twenty-two years in the past now, and not highly relevant - except for the questions relating to Hilliary Clinton that were raised at the time.
There was Filegate, the FBI's record collection of political opponents (specifically Republicans) by her hubby's administration. According to the Wiki article, quoted below, she hired the guy who obtained them and she read the files.
It is old news, but it's telling about the ethics, morals and character of a woman who will do and say anything in order to get elected and advance her political agenda.
In the case of Filegate, there was a man - Craig Livingstone - who was hired at the recommendation of Hilliary not because he was qualified or had experience, but because she knew the man's mother. This man was given security clearance and was at the center of the Filegate controversy.
Allegations were made that senior White House figures, including First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, may have requested and read the files for political purposes, and that the First Lady had authorized the hiring of the underqualified Livingstone.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House_FBI_files_controversy#Who_hired_Livingstone_issue
Then there was Cattlegate. No matter what anyone says, Hilliary was involved up to her broad hips with Wall Street. She was plenty cozy with Wall Street back then. Cozy enough to get special treatment.
For "normal" people, you have to have a minimum amount of money in an options or futures trading account before you can trade. It's to ensure that if things go south you don't lose more than you can afford to lose. Hilliary didn't. Most people who invest in futures and options for the first time don't make a boatload of money relative to their initial balance in their trading account. Hilliary did. She made quite a tidy sum from her trading. About $100,000 in all - even though the rules were definitely "bent" for her.
Hillary Clinton Futures Trades Detailed
By Charles R. Babcock
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 27, 1994; Page A01
Hillary Rodham Clinton was allowed to order 10 cattle futures contracts, normally a $12,000 investment, in her first commodity trade in 1978 although she had only $1,000 in her account at the time, according to trade records the White House released yesterday.
The computerized records of her trades, which the White House obtained from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, show for the first time how she was able to turn her initial investment into $6,300 overnight. In about 10 months of trading, she made nearly $100,000, relying heavily on advice from her friend James B. Blair, an experienced futures trader.
The new records also raise the possibility that some of her profits -- as much as $40,000 – came from larger trades ordered by someone else and then shifted to her account, Leo Melamed, a former chairman of the Merc who reviewed the records for the White House, said in an interview. He said the discrepancies in Clinton's records also could have been caused by human error.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/whitewater/stories/wwtr940527.htm
Yeah. Human error. Uh huh. A convenient explanation, isn't it?
Her husband was impeached - http://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/20/us/impeachment-overview-clinton-impeached-he-faces-senate-trial-2d-history-vows-job.html?pagewanted=all
But now he's going to be back in the White House as First Lady and primary adviser to a woman whose morals and ethics are worse than his - he's been caught twice while she's done equally questionable things and has consistently dodged the bullets. To me, that indicates a thick coating of slime and cunning. It also comes down to whether you ascribe to the old truism "birds of a feather".
There was Travelgate and Vince Foster, Benghazi and the e-mail server, a total of twenty-two scandals of greater and lesser import. Just about one a year since they hit the national political radar. Heck, Google "Hillary Clinton Scandals" and you'll get a list of stories and links from Washington Times, The Atlantic, The New York Post and other reputable news outlets.
If you Google Donald Trump scandals you get things from Salon - a leftist web-based outlet that is unapologetically in Obama's hip pocket. Liberalamerica.org also has stuff - gee, I wonder how fair and balanced that one is? What there is - about two things - also seem to be pure speculation and made-up stuff.
Doing a Google of 'Hillary Clinton Scandals' I came up with a long and varied list, including this link:
http://www.wnd.com/2015/05/here-they-are-hillarys-22-biggest-scandals-ever/
So the question is: with this woman being the leading contender for the Democrat party, what does this say about the character, morals, ethics, values and intelligence of the Democrats? Seems to me there's a gigantic flashing "Vacancy" sign atop the twin pillars of Honesty and Decency at DNC headquarters.
Personally, I find morality and ethics to be keys to a quality human being.
If someone lies to me, I don't trust them again. If they lie to someone else, I don't trust them after that, either. After all, if they lie, how can I be sure that anything else they say is the truth?
I do not affiliate or associate with people of questionable character. If I can't trust you to do the ethically right thing no matter what the situation, how can I trust you at my back, at all? I can't and therefore I don't want you around.
In my life I have a standard for my behavior. I don't lie. I don't cheat. I don't steal. It's straightforward. Therefore, given that outlook, I don't associate with people who do lie and cheat and steal. I deliberately and decisively steer well clear of them.
Given my moral compass and ethical standards, it seems to me that the Democrat National Committee and the Democrat leaning PACs lack anything that remotely looks like any standard at all. Just look at the "character" of the woman they're pushing to lead their party.
Now, is Donald Trump pure as the driven snow? Probably not. But I also think that he has integrity. If he didn't he wouldn't be successful in a business where large parts of the transactions are based on trust. After all, if you're investing in a new development, putting hundreds of millions of dollars on the line, there is a lot of trust there - and if he lied to people, no one would trust him. He wouldn't be successful, but he is - and that says a lot about his character.
Closer to home, do you embrace people who have no moral compass whatsoever? Do you embrace liars and cheaters and thieves? Do you call them friend and trust them to do the right thing no matter the circumstance?
Probably not, yet it seems to me that many of those who back Hilliary, regardless of her lying and cheating and utter lack of anything resembling ethics, are lacking a major part of their character, too. They must be if they willingly support someone who has proved to be untrustworthy, a liar and a cheat. Then again, maybe that's just me. Then again, maybe it's not because even the Washington Times has this story from back in August, and things haven't noticeably changed if you Google "Hillary Clinton Trustworthy".
But voters overall gave Mrs. Clinton a negative 44 percent/51 percent favorable/unfavorable split and said by a 59 percent to 35 percent margin that she is not honest and trustworthy.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/oct/7/hillary-clinton-not-honest-and-trustworthy-florida/?page=all
Food for thought though and this is the season for feasting so get to it.
Best~
Philippa
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories
After all, on the Saturday before Christmas, people are starting to shift into high gear for The Day. They're getting ready to travel over the river and through the woods to Grandma's. They're in panic mode over the last minute shopping for gifts and food and starting to plan menus and fend off the kid's questions. They are not, at this point, paying attention to politics and an election that's still a year away. So it was (quite a lot more than) a bit of obfuscation on the part of the DNC and Clinton campaign.
It's inevitable, no matter what anyone says, that Hilliary is going to be The Anointed One for the Democrat ticket. Sanders and O'Malley are only there as props to kind of try to hide the fact that Hilliary is The Anointed One.
Watching Berns again the other night, the best I can say is that he is weak-willed and limp-wristed. He has no drive or interest in winning the nomination. If he did, if he really wants to win the race, he would attack Hilliary, not suck up to her. He would slam her over the e-mail server and Benghazi. He wouldn't skim over issues like that. He wants to be VP so he can promote the things that interest him without the pressure of being in The Big Chair, and that's as high as his aspirations go.
Besides, it's a done deal. After the debate another one of the endless polls was taken and Hilliary won the debate among the 760 poll respondents, by a LOT.
When asked, the respondent's answered 62% to 30% that Hilliary won.
http://www.oann.com/dncdebate/
So we're almost certainly going to have another Clinton in the fight for the White House. Somehow, I don't think this is what the Founders envisioned. They set up the government model so one family or two would not dominate the landscape. Still, we've had the Bush Dynasty - GHW and GW. I'm grateful Jeb is doing as poorly as he is. We do not need Royal Families running this country. So we just have to worry about Hilliary and Bill - the Clinton Dynasty.
However, Hilliary is hauling around an entire trainload of baggage and it's all open to question and ridicule. Except no one is questioning or ridiculing and that's a bit disturbing. It's also one of the reasons I hope Trump wins the GOP nomination.
He will not be afraid to take her on and call her out on all the garbage with its swirling clouds of flies. After all, he has nothing to lose - so many in this country don't like her, so to see her brought down would please a lot of people, even if they will be among those who vote for her when the time comes. They'll vote for her for the wrong reasons - being The Anointed Democrat Candidate and Having Ovaries. Party lines are strong, after all.
As far as Hilliary and her baggage train goes, there was the White Water financial scandal which led to the savings and loan crash that shook the U.S. financial markets for more than a couple of years. In that, there were questions about Hilliary's participation and knowledge. She was elbow deep in the mess and records from the Rose Law firm where she worked were subpoenaed. For nearly a year she denied knowing where they were or having them in her possession, yet they "magically" appeared a year after the subpoena in her White House office.
Vince Foster, one of her associates at the Rose Law firm who was embroiled in the White Water scandal ended up dead in Fort Marcy Park outside of Washington DC. Even though it was ruled a suicide, there are still unanswered questions about it. However, it's twenty-two years in the past now, and not highly relevant - except for the questions relating to Hilliary Clinton that were raised at the time.
There was Filegate, the FBI's record collection of political opponents (specifically Republicans) by her hubby's administration. According to the Wiki article, quoted below, she hired the guy who obtained them and she read the files.
It is old news, but it's telling about the ethics, morals and character of a woman who will do and say anything in order to get elected and advance her political agenda.
In the case of Filegate, there was a man - Craig Livingstone - who was hired at the recommendation of Hilliary not because he was qualified or had experience, but because she knew the man's mother. This man was given security clearance and was at the center of the Filegate controversy.
Allegations were made that senior White House figures, including First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, may have requested and read the files for political purposes, and that the First Lady had authorized the hiring of the underqualified Livingstone.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House_FBI_files_controversy#Who_hired_Livingstone_issue
Then there was Cattlegate. No matter what anyone says, Hilliary was involved up to her broad hips with Wall Street. She was plenty cozy with Wall Street back then. Cozy enough to get special treatment.
For "normal" people, you have to have a minimum amount of money in an options or futures trading account before you can trade. It's to ensure that if things go south you don't lose more than you can afford to lose. Hilliary didn't. Most people who invest in futures and options for the first time don't make a boatload of money relative to their initial balance in their trading account. Hilliary did. She made quite a tidy sum from her trading. About $100,000 in all - even though the rules were definitely "bent" for her.
Hillary Clinton Futures Trades Detailed
By Charles R. Babcock
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 27, 1994; Page A01
Hillary Rodham Clinton was allowed to order 10 cattle futures contracts, normally a $12,000 investment, in her first commodity trade in 1978 although she had only $1,000 in her account at the time, according to trade records the White House released yesterday.
The computerized records of her trades, which the White House obtained from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, show for the first time how she was able to turn her initial investment into $6,300 overnight. In about 10 months of trading, she made nearly $100,000, relying heavily on advice from her friend James B. Blair, an experienced futures trader.
The new records also raise the possibility that some of her profits -- as much as $40,000 – came from larger trades ordered by someone else and then shifted to her account, Leo Melamed, a former chairman of the Merc who reviewed the records for the White House, said in an interview. He said the discrepancies in Clinton's records also could have been caused by human error.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/whitewater/stories/wwtr940527.htm
Yeah. Human error. Uh huh. A convenient explanation, isn't it?
Her husband was impeached - http://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/20/us/impeachment-overview-clinton-impeached-he-faces-senate-trial-2d-history-vows-job.html?pagewanted=all
But now he's going to be back in the White House as First Lady and primary adviser to a woman whose morals and ethics are worse than his - he's been caught twice while she's done equally questionable things and has consistently dodged the bullets. To me, that indicates a thick coating of slime and cunning. It also comes down to whether you ascribe to the old truism "birds of a feather".
There was Travelgate and Vince Foster, Benghazi and the e-mail server, a total of twenty-two scandals of greater and lesser import. Just about one a year since they hit the national political radar. Heck, Google "Hillary Clinton Scandals" and you'll get a list of stories and links from Washington Times, The Atlantic, The New York Post and other reputable news outlets.
If you Google Donald Trump scandals you get things from Salon - a leftist web-based outlet that is unapologetically in Obama's hip pocket. Liberalamerica.org also has stuff - gee, I wonder how fair and balanced that one is? What there is - about two things - also seem to be pure speculation and made-up stuff.
Doing a Google of 'Hillary Clinton Scandals' I came up with a long and varied list, including this link:
http://www.wnd.com/2015/05/here-they-are-hillarys-22-biggest-scandals-ever/
So the question is: with this woman being the leading contender for the Democrat party, what does this say about the character, morals, ethics, values and intelligence of the Democrats? Seems to me there's a gigantic flashing "Vacancy" sign atop the twin pillars of Honesty and Decency at DNC headquarters.
Personally, I find morality and ethics to be keys to a quality human being.
If someone lies to me, I don't trust them again. If they lie to someone else, I don't trust them after that, either. After all, if they lie, how can I be sure that anything else they say is the truth?
I do not affiliate or associate with people of questionable character. If I can't trust you to do the ethically right thing no matter what the situation, how can I trust you at my back, at all? I can't and therefore I don't want you around.
In my life I have a standard for my behavior. I don't lie. I don't cheat. I don't steal. It's straightforward. Therefore, given that outlook, I don't associate with people who do lie and cheat and steal. I deliberately and decisively steer well clear of them.
Given my moral compass and ethical standards, it seems to me that the Democrat National Committee and the Democrat leaning PACs lack anything that remotely looks like any standard at all. Just look at the "character" of the woman they're pushing to lead their party.
Now, is Donald Trump pure as the driven snow? Probably not. But I also think that he has integrity. If he didn't he wouldn't be successful in a business where large parts of the transactions are based on trust. After all, if you're investing in a new development, putting hundreds of millions of dollars on the line, there is a lot of trust there - and if he lied to people, no one would trust him. He wouldn't be successful, but he is - and that says a lot about his character.
Closer to home, do you embrace people who have no moral compass whatsoever? Do you embrace liars and cheaters and thieves? Do you call them friend and trust them to do the right thing no matter the circumstance?
Probably not, yet it seems to me that many of those who back Hilliary, regardless of her lying and cheating and utter lack of anything resembling ethics, are lacking a major part of their character, too. They must be if they willingly support someone who has proved to be untrustworthy, a liar and a cheat. Then again, maybe that's just me. Then again, maybe it's not because even the Washington Times has this story from back in August, and things haven't noticeably changed if you Google "Hillary Clinton Trustworthy".
But voters overall gave Mrs. Clinton a negative 44 percent/51 percent favorable/unfavorable split and said by a 59 percent to 35 percent margin that she is not honest and trustworthy.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/oct/7/hillary-clinton-not-honest-and-trustworthy-florida/?page=all
Food for thought though and this is the season for feasting so get to it.
Best~
Philippa
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories
Sunday, December 20, 2015
Rainy Sunday and Promise of More
It's Sunday afternoon, I'm feeling lazy and a bit sleepy, not sure what to write but doing it anyway because it's good exercise.
Except for my blog I haven't been doing any other writing these days. Instead, I'm sulking because of information I came across that will affect my future. I haven't decided what to do about it, how I'm going to deal with it, but neither of the obvious choices is palatable. Not being palatable means I'm standing still for the time being. Nothing is pressing me to make a move, so I'll stand still and consider until the time comes when I have to make a decision.
Outside it's cold (<50d) and raining. We got rain Friday and a tiny bit yesterday. Today is the first day in the promised week of rain where we've had decent quantities falling from the sky.
That's both good and bad. I want the rain to come and keep coming because I want the drought to be over. I also want it to come in moderation, a bit every day or two so we don't end up with flooding or landslides. Particularly in the areas up in Lake County that were devastated by fires this past summer.
That would be a heckuva thing. Avoid getting burned out and then have a hill slide onto your house because the fire ravaged all the vegetation holding the soil on the slope above. It's happened in Southern California often enough and there's no reason it couldn't / won't happen here. I hope it doesn't, which is why I'm torn between wanting it to rain and rain and rain and not. Ideally, we would get enough to get the vegetation started, the weeds growing and give them a chance to take root and get the brush, the manzanita and other scrub growing again. Too much to ask, I guess, because the weather dudes were saying last week that the rain will continue off and on through Christmas. A case of you can't have it both ways. Then, next month is when El Nino is supposed to take off and really get going.
Given the rain and the wind I'm seeing through the window, I am glad I got my errands done yesterday. At least I don't have to go out in it today. I even filled my tank, so I won't have to stop for gas again until next weekend.
Yesterday, while I was out, I stopped at the supermarket and picked up a tub of yogurt. I thought it was plain but it's not. It's Greek vanilla and, OMG, where has it been all my life?!? I had a tiny bit this morning and thought I had died and gone to Heaven so I had more, with some of the berry syrup I made even though it was still hot.
See, I want to have grab-and-go stuff for breakfast and lunch. When I'm running around in the morning, getting ready for work and trying to get out the door, I don't want to have to think too hard about what I'm going to eat. I almost always cook on the weekends - a big pot of something or other, or a roast or something that I can work into a week's worth of lunches.
Last weekend I made a big pot of rotini pasta, sauteed a bunch of veggies - bell peppers, onion, celery and mushrooms - seasoned them with sage and tossed it together. Really delicious and grab-and-go once I fixed up containers of it. I also baked some chicken thighs and kept them on-hand. That made it through the week although I finished the chicken today for lunch. Still, I have two more containers of the pasta for tomorrow and Tuesday.
Given the rant about my bodily feelings the other day, I've decided to add yogurt and berries to my diet. The yogurt is good in a lot of ways and so are the berries. This morning I separated most of yogurt into containers - about 1 C in each - and I boiled the bag of frozen berries into a syrup. Once the berries finish cooling, I'll add a bit of the syrup to each of the yogurt containers - just over the top. Then I'll be ready to go for the week. I'll also know how much I need to freeze because I know the syrup won't keep. I made a LOT of it, but that's good. I'll have enough for future use.
I think that with a dollop of sweet wine, a Gewurztraminer or a fruity schnapps, some after-dinner liqueur added in, it would be heavenly over ice cream. I also think it would be delicious over baked salmon or chicken breast. I'll have to get creative and find ways to use it. It shouldn't be hard. If I can figure out how to make myself feel better and lose some of that excess weight I also ranted about, I'll be a happy girl.
Even though it's raining today, I did get exercise yesterday. I went out early and got the shopping done before most anyone arrived at the stores then, because it was so nice, I did some yard work. I clipped back the neighbor's roses that lean over our fence and took a goodly swipe at the gigantic jasmine that's taken over half our yard.
The fence in the back is in such bad shape that we put lipstick on it to hold it up through the winter. Actually, it's not really lipstick. They're metal posts that hubby pounded into the ground in strategic places. Next spring we are going to have to replace the fence, so the jasmine will come all the way out. As it was, it was growing over and through the railing on our side deck - threatening to take over the pile of Hillbilly furniture that we still haven't got rid of.
Hubby's still talking about doing that, so I haven't given up hope. I think he's waiting until the new tax year so we can pick through it again and decide what can be donated and what's garbage so we can get a bit of return on our taxes at the end of 2016. Whatever. At some point none of this will matter. It will all be in the past and something new will have taken its place.
And, with that happy tone, I'm done. I am sleepy so I'm going to indulge in a nap.
I hope you have a wonderful day - lazy or not, just as you choose.
Best~
Philippa.
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories
Except for my blog I haven't been doing any other writing these days. Instead, I'm sulking because of information I came across that will affect my future. I haven't decided what to do about it, how I'm going to deal with it, but neither of the obvious choices is palatable. Not being palatable means I'm standing still for the time being. Nothing is pressing me to make a move, so I'll stand still and consider until the time comes when I have to make a decision.
Outside it's cold (<50d) and raining. We got rain Friday and a tiny bit yesterday. Today is the first day in the promised week of rain where we've had decent quantities falling from the sky.
That's both good and bad. I want the rain to come and keep coming because I want the drought to be over. I also want it to come in moderation, a bit every day or two so we don't end up with flooding or landslides. Particularly in the areas up in Lake County that were devastated by fires this past summer.
That would be a heckuva thing. Avoid getting burned out and then have a hill slide onto your house because the fire ravaged all the vegetation holding the soil on the slope above. It's happened in Southern California often enough and there's no reason it couldn't / won't happen here. I hope it doesn't, which is why I'm torn between wanting it to rain and rain and rain and not. Ideally, we would get enough to get the vegetation started, the weeds growing and give them a chance to take root and get the brush, the manzanita and other scrub growing again. Too much to ask, I guess, because the weather dudes were saying last week that the rain will continue off and on through Christmas. A case of you can't have it both ways. Then, next month is when El Nino is supposed to take off and really get going.
Given the rain and the wind I'm seeing through the window, I am glad I got my errands done yesterday. At least I don't have to go out in it today. I even filled my tank, so I won't have to stop for gas again until next weekend.
Yesterday, while I was out, I stopped at the supermarket and picked up a tub of yogurt. I thought it was plain but it's not. It's Greek vanilla and, OMG, where has it been all my life?!? I had a tiny bit this morning and thought I had died and gone to Heaven so I had more, with some of the berry syrup I made even though it was still hot.
See, I want to have grab-and-go stuff for breakfast and lunch. When I'm running around in the morning, getting ready for work and trying to get out the door, I don't want to have to think too hard about what I'm going to eat. I almost always cook on the weekends - a big pot of something or other, or a roast or something that I can work into a week's worth of lunches.
Last weekend I made a big pot of rotini pasta, sauteed a bunch of veggies - bell peppers, onion, celery and mushrooms - seasoned them with sage and tossed it together. Really delicious and grab-and-go once I fixed up containers of it. I also baked some chicken thighs and kept them on-hand. That made it through the week although I finished the chicken today for lunch. Still, I have two more containers of the pasta for tomorrow and Tuesday.
Given the rant about my bodily feelings the other day, I've decided to add yogurt and berries to my diet. The yogurt is good in a lot of ways and so are the berries. This morning I separated most of yogurt into containers - about 1 C in each - and I boiled the bag of frozen berries into a syrup. Once the berries finish cooling, I'll add a bit of the syrup to each of the yogurt containers - just over the top. Then I'll be ready to go for the week. I'll also know how much I need to freeze because I know the syrup won't keep. I made a LOT of it, but that's good. I'll have enough for future use.
I think that with a dollop of sweet wine, a Gewurztraminer or a fruity schnapps, some after-dinner liqueur added in, it would be heavenly over ice cream. I also think it would be delicious over baked salmon or chicken breast. I'll have to get creative and find ways to use it. It shouldn't be hard. If I can figure out how to make myself feel better and lose some of that excess weight I also ranted about, I'll be a happy girl.
Even though it's raining today, I did get exercise yesterday. I went out early and got the shopping done before most anyone arrived at the stores then, because it was so nice, I did some yard work. I clipped back the neighbor's roses that lean over our fence and took a goodly swipe at the gigantic jasmine that's taken over half our yard.
The fence in the back is in such bad shape that we put lipstick on it to hold it up through the winter. Actually, it's not really lipstick. They're metal posts that hubby pounded into the ground in strategic places. Next spring we are going to have to replace the fence, so the jasmine will come all the way out. As it was, it was growing over and through the railing on our side deck - threatening to take over the pile of Hillbilly furniture that we still haven't got rid of.
Hubby's still talking about doing that, so I haven't given up hope. I think he's waiting until the new tax year so we can pick through it again and decide what can be donated and what's garbage so we can get a bit of return on our taxes at the end of 2016. Whatever. At some point none of this will matter. It will all be in the past and something new will have taken its place.
And, with that happy tone, I'm done. I am sleepy so I'm going to indulge in a nap.
I hope you have a wonderful day - lazy or not, just as you choose.
Best~
Philippa.
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories
Saturday, December 19, 2015
Christmas, By God!
There - I've offended millions in one swell-foop.
It's Christmas season. Hanukkah is past and now we're into Christmas - not "The Holidays" or "The Holiday Season" or any of that other nonsense.
If some group wants to establish some new winter festival, like Christmas or like Hanukkah which commemorates an historical event, go for it - but do not demand that I or others who ascribe to the joy of Christmas stop expressing ourselves. That ain't gonna happen. So, in keeping with that bold and clear statement:
In our household, we won't be doing Christmas cards. Buying ten cards for $10 and then paying $0.50 each to mail them ($5) on top of the time and energy spent writing that once-a-year note to people I otherwise don't communicate with makes no sense to me.
We won't be exchanging presents. Spending time and energy running from store to store to store looking for something that will probably end up in the back of the recipient's closet makes no sense to me.
Winding up in January looking into the figurative wallet and thinking, "Geez! Did we really spend that much?" makes no sense to me.
We won't be driving ourselves crazy with setting up the tree, stringing wires and decorating it. Getting out all the other knickknacks and decorations to spread through the house - living room and dining room and family room - all so we can take it all down and put it away again in two weeks.
Ours is a quiet period of normal living. And I like it this way.
When daughter was still at home and before MIL's illness back in 2012 we did the seasonal craziness - the tree went up the day after Thanksgiving. We would spending a day diving into the attic, pulling out the boxes of decorations and setting everything out. We would check the lights and argue about how best to wire the tree. Then, when it was all over and up, I would dive back into the attic to put the storage boxes away, all so the process could be reversed the day after New Years. We also did the cards and the shopping and the stressing out.
Since then, since MIL moved downstairs into our living room, taking up the space formerly reserved for the Christmas tree, we haven't done it. And, quite frankly, I have not missed it. I don't miss the decorating, the card writing (which took hours even though I only sent about ten or fifteen cards each year), or the running hither and yon to find that "perfect" whatever.
Aside from that, I live with two people who aren't sure about anything "religious" and for them to get all excited about Christmas was nothing but seasonal induced greed - what will I get / what can I have. And that's not what this season should be about. That's what it's become, but that's not what it should be about.
MIL refuses to acknowledge God or any higher power. So be it, that's her outlook. However, she is fretting because she cannot write or send Christmas cards this year. As if anyone is going to really miss that extra piece of paper in the mail. Yes, it's a nice sentiment, but this goes straight back to my 1:1 relationship. These are people with whom she doesn't communicate except at Christmas - and the sentiments in the cards sent and received are predominately "this is me in my world" instead of an on-going interested exchange of news and views.
Hubby doesn't seem to know what he thinks or believes. He talks about people "up there" influencing and affecting our lives, but refuses to acknowledge God or any other higher power. Whatever.
Then there's me. I am a believer in God. My relationship with Him is personal - 1:1. I talk to him. I know that He's there in all things and all moments so I try to always do the right thing for myself and for others. Do I believe that He is jotting down every little thing I do or ask for? No. There's an entire universe out there and I'm less than a dust mote in it. I send good thoughts, energy, to those who need it. Does it influence the outcome? Probably not, but if it makes me feel better or makes the people who ask for thoughts and prayers feel better, it's a small thing to do, so I do it.
With 2015 coming to a close, and 2016 looming large with all of its new offerings, it's an exciting time.
Next year I will be a Grandma for the first time.
Next year I will have new responsibilities at work (that came up yesterday and will start Monday, but won't really start rolling until after New Years).
Next year our new plant will open and, hopefully, start operating. That might lead to new things, too. We'll see.
In the meantime it's life continuing.
I went out and bought another pair of new shoes because the first pair is so comfortable. $19.99 per pair plus sales tax. Less than $45 for two pair of shoes that will probably last two years - and I got an argument and lecture when I got home.
I signed up for health insurance through my work. It's a funded plan in which a set dollar amount is deposited into a bank account in my name every pay period. The intent is that the money will accumulate and be there when and if I need it. I got an argument about that, too. But I'm standing firm - that is not going to be touched for anything but my medical expenses, as designated. (Hubby has a different idea but tough. He'll have to get over it.)
I forgot to return five cans of cat food this morning and got scolded for it. As if I can't take them and exchange them another time.
Life as usual in our household in other words. So, instead of the Christmas tree and cards and all the rest of it, I have two pair of shoes that I need. I have the beginnings of a health insurance nest egg I can use. I have five extra cans of cat food that will, at some point, go back to the store. It's all good and it's my little corner of this world on the Saturday before Christmas. Hubby's frustration and vitriol slid off my back like water off a duck because it's so common, so expected and normal, so that's all good too.
Have fun shopping! Watch out for those crowds and don't get carried away with the spending. Me? I'm going to kick back and relax.
Best~
Philippa
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories
It's Christmas season. Hanukkah is past and now we're into Christmas - not "The Holidays" or "The Holiday Season" or any of that other nonsense.
If some group wants to establish some new winter festival, like Christmas or like Hanukkah which commemorates an historical event, go for it - but do not demand that I or others who ascribe to the joy of Christmas stop expressing ourselves. That ain't gonna happen. So, in keeping with that bold and clear statement:
Merry Christmas!
In our household, we won't be doing Christmas cards. Buying ten cards for $10 and then paying $0.50 each to mail them ($5) on top of the time and energy spent writing that once-a-year note to people I otherwise don't communicate with makes no sense to me.
We won't be exchanging presents. Spending time and energy running from store to store to store looking for something that will probably end up in the back of the recipient's closet makes no sense to me.
Winding up in January looking into the figurative wallet and thinking, "Geez! Did we really spend that much?" makes no sense to me.
We won't be driving ourselves crazy with setting up the tree, stringing wires and decorating it. Getting out all the other knickknacks and decorations to spread through the house - living room and dining room and family room - all so we can take it all down and put it away again in two weeks.
Ours is a quiet period of normal living. And I like it this way.
When daughter was still at home and before MIL's illness back in 2012 we did the seasonal craziness - the tree went up the day after Thanksgiving. We would spending a day diving into the attic, pulling out the boxes of decorations and setting everything out. We would check the lights and argue about how best to wire the tree. Then, when it was all over and up, I would dive back into the attic to put the storage boxes away, all so the process could be reversed the day after New Years. We also did the cards and the shopping and the stressing out.
Since then, since MIL moved downstairs into our living room, taking up the space formerly reserved for the Christmas tree, we haven't done it. And, quite frankly, I have not missed it. I don't miss the decorating, the card writing (which took hours even though I only sent about ten or fifteen cards each year), or the running hither and yon to find that "perfect" whatever.
Aside from that, I live with two people who aren't sure about anything "religious" and for them to get all excited about Christmas was nothing but seasonal induced greed - what will I get / what can I have. And that's not what this season should be about. That's what it's become, but that's not what it should be about.
MIL refuses to acknowledge God or any higher power. So be it, that's her outlook. However, she is fretting because she cannot write or send Christmas cards this year. As if anyone is going to really miss that extra piece of paper in the mail. Yes, it's a nice sentiment, but this goes straight back to my 1:1 relationship. These are people with whom she doesn't communicate except at Christmas - and the sentiments in the cards sent and received are predominately "this is me in my world" instead of an on-going interested exchange of news and views.
Hubby doesn't seem to know what he thinks or believes. He talks about people "up there" influencing and affecting our lives, but refuses to acknowledge God or any other higher power. Whatever.
Then there's me. I am a believer in God. My relationship with Him is personal - 1:1. I talk to him. I know that He's there in all things and all moments so I try to always do the right thing for myself and for others. Do I believe that He is jotting down every little thing I do or ask for? No. There's an entire universe out there and I'm less than a dust mote in it. I send good thoughts, energy, to those who need it. Does it influence the outcome? Probably not, but if it makes me feel better or makes the people who ask for thoughts and prayers feel better, it's a small thing to do, so I do it.
With 2015 coming to a close, and 2016 looming large with all of its new offerings, it's an exciting time.
Next year I will be a Grandma for the first time.
Next year I will have new responsibilities at work (that came up yesterday and will start Monday, but won't really start rolling until after New Years).
Next year our new plant will open and, hopefully, start operating. That might lead to new things, too. We'll see.
In the meantime it's life continuing.
I went out and bought another pair of new shoes because the first pair is so comfortable. $19.99 per pair plus sales tax. Less than $45 for two pair of shoes that will probably last two years - and I got an argument and lecture when I got home.
I signed up for health insurance through my work. It's a funded plan in which a set dollar amount is deposited into a bank account in my name every pay period. The intent is that the money will accumulate and be there when and if I need it. I got an argument about that, too. But I'm standing firm - that is not going to be touched for anything but my medical expenses, as designated. (Hubby has a different idea but tough. He'll have to get over it.)
I forgot to return five cans of cat food this morning and got scolded for it. As if I can't take them and exchange them another time.
Life as usual in our household in other words. So, instead of the Christmas tree and cards and all the rest of it, I have two pair of shoes that I need. I have the beginnings of a health insurance nest egg I can use. I have five extra cans of cat food that will, at some point, go back to the store. It's all good and it's my little corner of this world on the Saturday before Christmas. Hubby's frustration and vitriol slid off my back like water off a duck because it's so common, so expected and normal, so that's all good too.
Have fun shopping! Watch out for those crowds and don't get carried away with the spending. Me? I'm going to kick back and relax.
Best~
Philippa
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories
Friday, December 18, 2015
And The Sun Came Up After All
See? This is the beauty of time passing. After getting yesterday's vitriol out of my system things are looking brighter today.
This morning, almost the first thing, I "sucked it up" (metaphorically speaking) and got on the scale. Things there aren't as bad as I feared. The little fat bombs I lost in the past couple of years haven't found me after all. I just feel like it - the physical / mental combination. So I'm going to slant it in the direction I want and figure this is body telling brain, "Hey! Let's do it again! There's additional acreage here that could be shed." Since I'm up for that, knowing there is more to do, I'm going to take advantage and see what personal re-shaping I can accomplish with some changes.
I still don't know if the other things going on relate to my thyroid, but I'm going to assume that it does. I'll be eating more fruits and veggies - I brought broccoli and cauliflower to go along with lunch (a chicken thigh and pasta). I'm even considering getting a bag of frozen berries, a package of frozen peaches, cooking them into a syrup and using that to add to plain yogurt. I should eat more yogurt. I know I should because it's so good for me, but I don't.
The meeting I whined about yesterday took place and I have direction and clarity. Two more questions to be answered and things will be on track.
CONFESSION!! I finally have something relating to the whole global warming / climate change BS that I can wrap my brain around and the opinion is shifting. Microscopically, let's be clear, but it is shifting.
I still do not buy into the idea that it's "man-caused" - we aren't that significant or important. We are, for all intents and purposes, gnats on an elephant's butt. 75% of the planet is still water. About 70% of the last masses are unpopulated. So we are, no matter how we think of ourselves, unimportant in the overall scheme of things.
And this means that the 2030 Agenda put out by the Pinky & The Brain Society for World Domination is even less important than I thought it was when I first heard of it.
Seems that the changes in the world's climate might be the result of the Earth's rotation slowing. Which makes sense.
Of course, what doesn't make sense is the Brain Dead League that says everything from toenail fungus, to hemorrhoids, to bad breath to... you name it, is causing climate change which is causing jihadists to run around killing people. It's all linked because the media and the Brain Dead League Who Must Explain Everything Using Climate Change Even When The Linkages Make No Sense to Anyone With Half-A-Working Brain say it is.
Science has known for a long time that the moon is drifting away from us. It's inevitable that as our cosmic dance partner drifts off it's going to have an effect on us. Now is this permanent? No one knows. We've certainly had warmer epochs and ages in the past. We've also had colder. Perhaps the moon is drifting temporarily and then will swing back and draw in again. I don't know, and I won't know because I won't be around for it if it happens.
In the meantime, while the moon does slide slowly off, we are going to see climate changes because our little blue gem is inextricably linked to the moon.
If it wasn't for the moon, our oceans wouldn't have tides. They would be stagnant and dead given the volume of water in them. There is no way humans could generate tides in the Pacific or Atlantic basins. Without the tides, our little planet wouldn't have weather. We wouldn't have El Ninos or La Ninas. We wouldn't have rain or snow or wind or anything else. We would have all the interest of Venus (the planet, not the Greek goddess).
So, perhaps the slowing of the Earth's rotation is linked to the moon's drift and that's why we're seeing what we're seeing. Greenland re-greening and the rest of it.
Of course, the cries of despair over the poles are still pretty much bogus. It's a case of "let's look over <== so we don't see that the ice pack over ==> there is causing problems with reprovisioning our scientific stations" as happened last winter.
In fact, NASA has a new study and the knicker-knotting among the alarmists just increased exponentially because it shows: “Antarctica is actually gaining ice." (End of the second paragraph in the linked article.)
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/11/151103-antarctic-ice-growing-shrinking-glaciers-climate-change/
So the Climate Whiners are still demanding that we ignore the fact that if there's more ice, which is heavier than water, water is displaced which could account for a rise in sea levels.
As I say, the dial has twitched for me. With the reports of Earth's rotation slowing, I can definitely see that climate will be affected. But I do not, for one nanosecond believe that it's man-caused. That's the simplistic guilt-ridden answer for the angst riddled brain-dead who can't think for themselves.
Besides, if the People In Charge of this planet - our government representatives - were really serious about global warming / climate change instead of just being interested in photo ops and lip service, they would be beating the crap out of China to get its house in order. They are, after all, far and away the worst of the worst when it comes to polluting our little blue gem. Instead, China came out of the Paris climate conversation unswayed, unscathed and undeterred. They're going to go ahead and do what they're doing - like issuing their second Red Flag warning for air quality in Beijing - and ignore the rest of us. Even though the rest of us are impacted by what they do.
The fact that China owns the world by owning much of its debt makes a difference, too. After all, if Guido has you by the financial cojones, you're not going to do much but twitch and plead. You'll pretty much do whatever it is that Guido tells you to do. Or else.
So, as you can see, things are looking up for me. I'm back on track and in stride, so I'll go ahead and do what I'm going to do, and I hope you will, too.
Have a lovely day! It's raining here so we are having a lovely day.
Best~
Philippa
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories
This morning, almost the first thing, I "sucked it up" (metaphorically speaking) and got on the scale. Things there aren't as bad as I feared. The little fat bombs I lost in the past couple of years haven't found me after all. I just feel like it - the physical / mental combination. So I'm going to slant it in the direction I want and figure this is body telling brain, "Hey! Let's do it again! There's additional acreage here that could be shed." Since I'm up for that, knowing there is more to do, I'm going to take advantage and see what personal re-shaping I can accomplish with some changes.
I still don't know if the other things going on relate to my thyroid, but I'm going to assume that it does. I'll be eating more fruits and veggies - I brought broccoli and cauliflower to go along with lunch (a chicken thigh and pasta). I'm even considering getting a bag of frozen berries, a package of frozen peaches, cooking them into a syrup and using that to add to plain yogurt. I should eat more yogurt. I know I should because it's so good for me, but I don't.
The meeting I whined about yesterday took place and I have direction and clarity. Two more questions to be answered and things will be on track.
CONFESSION!! I finally have something relating to the whole global warming / climate change BS that I can wrap my brain around and the opinion is shifting. Microscopically, let's be clear, but it is shifting.
I still do not buy into the idea that it's "man-caused" - we aren't that significant or important. We are, for all intents and purposes, gnats on an elephant's butt. 75% of the planet is still water. About 70% of the last masses are unpopulated. So we are, no matter how we think of ourselves, unimportant in the overall scheme of things.
And this means that the 2030 Agenda put out by the Pinky & The Brain Society for World Domination is even less important than I thought it was when I first heard of it.
Seems that the changes in the world's climate might be the result of the Earth's rotation slowing. Which makes sense.
Of course, what doesn't make sense is the Brain Dead League that says everything from toenail fungus, to hemorrhoids, to bad breath to... you name it, is causing climate change which is causing jihadists to run around killing people. It's all linked because the media and the Brain Dead League Who Must Explain Everything Using Climate Change Even When The Linkages Make No Sense to Anyone With Half-A-Working Brain say it is.
Science has known for a long time that the moon is drifting away from us. It's inevitable that as our cosmic dance partner drifts off it's going to have an effect on us. Now is this permanent? No one knows. We've certainly had warmer epochs and ages in the past. We've also had colder. Perhaps the moon is drifting temporarily and then will swing back and draw in again. I don't know, and I won't know because I won't be around for it if it happens.
In the meantime, while the moon does slide slowly off, we are going to see climate changes because our little blue gem is inextricably linked to the moon.
If it wasn't for the moon, our oceans wouldn't have tides. They would be stagnant and dead given the volume of water in them. There is no way humans could generate tides in the Pacific or Atlantic basins. Without the tides, our little planet wouldn't have weather. We wouldn't have El Ninos or La Ninas. We wouldn't have rain or snow or wind or anything else. We would have all the interest of Venus (the planet, not the Greek goddess).
So, perhaps the slowing of the Earth's rotation is linked to the moon's drift and that's why we're seeing what we're seeing. Greenland re-greening and the rest of it.
Of course, the cries of despair over the poles are still pretty much bogus. It's a case of "let's look over <== so we don't see that the ice pack over ==> there is causing problems with reprovisioning our scientific stations" as happened last winter.
In fact, NASA has a new study and the knicker-knotting among the alarmists just increased exponentially because it shows: “Antarctica is actually gaining ice." (End of the second paragraph in the linked article.)
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/11/151103-antarctic-ice-growing-shrinking-glaciers-climate-change/
So the Climate Whiners are still demanding that we ignore the fact that if there's more ice, which is heavier than water, water is displaced which could account for a rise in sea levels.
As I say, the dial has twitched for me. With the reports of Earth's rotation slowing, I can definitely see that climate will be affected. But I do not, for one nanosecond believe that it's man-caused. That's the simplistic guilt-ridden answer for the angst riddled brain-dead who can't think for themselves.
Besides, if the People In Charge of this planet - our government representatives - were really serious about global warming / climate change instead of just being interested in photo ops and lip service, they would be beating the crap out of China to get its house in order. They are, after all, far and away the worst of the worst when it comes to polluting our little blue gem. Instead, China came out of the Paris climate conversation unswayed, unscathed and undeterred. They're going to go ahead and do what they're doing - like issuing their second Red Flag warning for air quality in Beijing - and ignore the rest of us. Even though the rest of us are impacted by what they do.
The fact that China owns the world by owning much of its debt makes a difference, too. After all, if Guido has you by the financial cojones, you're not going to do much but twitch and plead. You'll pretty much do whatever it is that Guido tells you to do. Or else.
So, as you can see, things are looking up for me. I'm back on track and in stride, so I'll go ahead and do what I'm going to do, and I hope you will, too.
Have a lovely day! It's raining here so we are having a lovely day.
Best~
Philippa
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories
Thursday, December 17, 2015
The Best-Laid Plans
Rabbie (Robert) Burns was either a poet-patriot or a poet-traitor depending on which side of Hadrian's Wall you happened to live during the last part of the 18th century. No matter. He nailed 'it' with his poem, "To A Mouse" which, according to lore, resulted from his turning up her nest with a plow in November, 1785:
Wee, sleeket, cowran, tim'rous beastie,
O, what a panic's in thy breastie!
Thou need na start awa sae hasty,
Wi' bickerin brattle!
I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee
Wi' murd'ring pattle!
I'm truly sorry Man's dominion
Has broken Nature's social union,
An' justifies that ill opinion
Which makes thee startle,
At me, thy poor, earth-born companion,
An' fellow-mortal!
I doubt na, whyles, but thou may thieve;
What then? poor beastie, thou maun live!
A daamen-icker in a thrave
'S a sma' request:
I'll get a blessin' wi' the lave,
An' never miss 't!
Thy wee-bit housie, too, in ruin!
It's still wa's the win's are strewin!
An naething, now, to big a new ane,
O' foggage green!
An' bleak December's winds ensuin,
Baith snell an' keen!
Thou saw the fields laid bare an' waste,
An' weary Winter comin fast,
An' cozie here, beneath the blast,
Thou thought to dwell,
Till crash! the cruel coulter past
Out thro' thy cell.
That wee-bit heap o' leaves an' stibble
Has cost the monie a weary nibble!
Now thou's turn'd out, for a' thy trouble,
But house or hald,
To thole the Winter's sleety dribble,
An' cranreuch cauld!
But Mousie, thou art no thy-lane
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men
Gang aft agley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!
Still, thou art blest, compar'd wi' me!
The present only toucheth thee:
But Och! I backward cast my e'e,
On prospects drear!
An' forward tho' I canna see,
I guess an' fear!
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173072
It's this line that's stuck through the ages:
In other words - even in the best laid plans of mice and men shit happens. Wheels fall off. Things go sideways and, these past few days, I'm facing a plethora of wheels falling off and shit happening. It is what I call a Cosmic Convergence where the whirlwind of the cosmos seems to be wrapping itself around me, throwing things at me from all directions.
I got a frantic e-mail from hubby yesterday about our aged cat, Sam.
This picture was taken a few years ago, when he was about fifteen. Yesterday, at going on nineteen, he "exploded" from both ends several times, leaving a path of destruction through the house. Then he spent much of the afternoon moaning and crying.
It looked like the Time Had Come for my last little fur-baby and it broke my heart even though he is nineteen years old and it's not unexpected. It is, after all, the eventual outcome for anything that lives.
After getting the frantic phone call and then going back and forth with my asking for hubby to wait and then rethinking because I didn't want Sam to suffer for a minute if he didn't have to, we decided to wait. Hubby decided to wait and I was forty miles a way at work so unable to figure if it was a good decision or a bad, but figured I'd find out when I got home.
By then, at six o'clock last night, Sam was better. He was sleeping and seemed normal all last evening. I watered him - standing at the sink so he could drink from the palm of my hand. I fed him and he ate. It all seemed okay. Which leads us to wonder what led to that. Whatever. It's resolved so now it's a matter of starting forward from here.
At work, I was frustrated because I have something on my desk that I want resolved (dammit!). I've been trying for a week to meet with the people who will decide but every time we have something set up, something else more critical comes along and bumps it. On top of the kitty-crisis yesterday, having this meeting bumped again (fourth time), drove me to the edge of the cliff. I whined. Just like a petulant five-year old. Which I try hard not to do at work or anywhere else. It's so unattractive!
Fortunately, the "whinee" is understanding and, after whining and fussing I went down and apologized, explaining the frustration and everything. He empathized and we're good. The Respect-o-meter took a downward swing, but it's not irreparable. We'll meet today and get it done and I'll be happy.
On top of and associated with that, I have a vendor waiting for an answer - and they have been waiting for more than a week on something that should be, in most cases, easily solved and/or answered. Between the internal (direction/clarity) and the external (vendor) I feel like I'm caught in the middle - a place I don't like to be. That contributed to the whine (or whinge, depending on which side of the Pond you happen to be).
Outside and apart from this I discovered something very unpleasant the other day. It's really, really unwelcome information. It is a big sloppy wet hairball of a mess, and there isn't a bloody thing I can do about it. I can't even write and rant about it. All I can do is internalize it - something else I'm not good at doing.
I did put up a post on Facebook about it, then had second thoughts and took it down again. Maybe I should talk it out in the privacy of my car on my drives to and from work until it's out of my system... Now there's an idea. Just verbalize it in a place where no one can hear, no one will know and I can express my frustration to its fullest extent.
And the more I think about this, the more I want to stomp my feet, flail my arms and then fling myself to the floor and indulge in a full-on temper tantrum. There are just some things in life that aren't fair. They're unfair and when there's nothing you can do about it - feeling like a fly stuck in amber - all you can do is rage. But, with things going the way they are, I'd probably hurt myself. Knock my head or hit something while I flail and have yet another misery to add to the pile gathering around my knees.
Then, compounding all of that, is that I'm simply grouchy. Grouchy because a few years ago I lost a lot of weight - about forty pounds. I didn't do the fad diet thing. I didn't do anything but slow my eating to a graze, get a little more exercise and so on. Now I feel like it's all coming back. I lost it and now it's finding me again and I am not happy.
Part of it is, I think, my thyroid malfunctioning. I had thyroid problems in my early twenties and was on meds for it for about ten years, then I got preggers. That solved that for some reason and I haven't had problems since. Now, though, the weight gain, low energy, dry skin, hair is doing weird things all seem to point in the direction of the base of my throat.
Which isn't necessarily the end of the world. It just means I have to be more careful about what I eat (and how much), get more veggies and flax, more protein and less fat. But it's a nuisance. I'm hoping I can solve this without the meds because I won't even take my vitamins let alone 'scrips.
So, grr. Ah well, c'est la vie, c'est la guerre - all of this shall pass and then it'll be something else.
I hope you have a grouch-free, grump-free wonderful day! Me? I'm gonna go have that tantrum.
Best~
Philippa
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories
Wee, sleeket, cowran, tim'rous beastie,
O, what a panic's in thy breastie!
Thou need na start awa sae hasty,
Wi' bickerin brattle!
I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee
Wi' murd'ring pattle!
I'm truly sorry Man's dominion
Has broken Nature's social union,
An' justifies that ill opinion
Which makes thee startle,
At me, thy poor, earth-born companion,
An' fellow-mortal!
I doubt na, whyles, but thou may thieve;
What then? poor beastie, thou maun live!
A daamen-icker in a thrave
'S a sma' request:
I'll get a blessin' wi' the lave,
An' never miss 't!
Thy wee-bit housie, too, in ruin!
It's still wa's the win's are strewin!
An naething, now, to big a new ane,
O' foggage green!
An' bleak December's winds ensuin,
Baith snell an' keen!
Thou saw the fields laid bare an' waste,
An' weary Winter comin fast,
An' cozie here, beneath the blast,
Thou thought to dwell,
Till crash! the cruel coulter past
Out thro' thy cell.
That wee-bit heap o' leaves an' stibble
Has cost the monie a weary nibble!
Now thou's turn'd out, for a' thy trouble,
But house or hald,
To thole the Winter's sleety dribble,
An' cranreuch cauld!
But Mousie, thou art no thy-lane
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men
Gang aft agley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!
Still, thou art blest, compar'd wi' me!
The present only toucheth thee:
But Och! I backward cast my e'e,
On prospects drear!
An' forward tho' I canna see,
I guess an' fear!
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173072
It's this line that's stuck through the ages:
The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men
Gang aft agley,
In other words - even in the best laid plans of mice and men shit happens. Wheels fall off. Things go sideways and, these past few days, I'm facing a plethora of wheels falling off and shit happening. It is what I call a Cosmic Convergence where the whirlwind of the cosmos seems to be wrapping itself around me, throwing things at me from all directions.
I got a frantic e-mail from hubby yesterday about our aged cat, Sam.
This picture was taken a few years ago, when he was about fifteen. Yesterday, at going on nineteen, he "exploded" from both ends several times, leaving a path of destruction through the house. Then he spent much of the afternoon moaning and crying.
It looked like the Time Had Come for my last little fur-baby and it broke my heart even though he is nineteen years old and it's not unexpected. It is, after all, the eventual outcome for anything that lives.
After getting the frantic phone call and then going back and forth with my asking for hubby to wait and then rethinking because I didn't want Sam to suffer for a minute if he didn't have to, we decided to wait. Hubby decided to wait and I was forty miles a way at work so unable to figure if it was a good decision or a bad, but figured I'd find out when I got home.
By then, at six o'clock last night, Sam was better. He was sleeping and seemed normal all last evening. I watered him - standing at the sink so he could drink from the palm of my hand. I fed him and he ate. It all seemed okay. Which leads us to wonder what led to that. Whatever. It's resolved so now it's a matter of starting forward from here.
At work, I was frustrated because I have something on my desk that I want resolved (dammit!). I've been trying for a week to meet with the people who will decide but every time we have something set up, something else more critical comes along and bumps it. On top of the kitty-crisis yesterday, having this meeting bumped again (fourth time), drove me to the edge of the cliff. I whined. Just like a petulant five-year old. Which I try hard not to do at work or anywhere else. It's so unattractive!
Fortunately, the "whinee" is understanding and, after whining and fussing I went down and apologized, explaining the frustration and everything. He empathized and we're good. The Respect-o-meter took a downward swing, but it's not irreparable. We'll meet today and get it done and I'll be happy.
On top of and associated with that, I have a vendor waiting for an answer - and they have been waiting for more than a week on something that should be, in most cases, easily solved and/or answered. Between the internal (direction/clarity) and the external (vendor) I feel like I'm caught in the middle - a place I don't like to be. That contributed to the whine (or whinge, depending on which side of the Pond you happen to be).
Outside and apart from this I discovered something very unpleasant the other day. It's really, really unwelcome information. It is a big sloppy wet hairball of a mess, and there isn't a bloody thing I can do about it. I can't even write and rant about it. All I can do is internalize it - something else I'm not good at doing.
I did put up a post on Facebook about it, then had second thoughts and took it down again. Maybe I should talk it out in the privacy of my car on my drives to and from work until it's out of my system... Now there's an idea. Just verbalize it in a place where no one can hear, no one will know and I can express my frustration to its fullest extent.
And the more I think about this, the more I want to stomp my feet, flail my arms and then fling myself to the floor and indulge in a full-on temper tantrum. There are just some things in life that aren't fair. They're unfair and when there's nothing you can do about it - feeling like a fly stuck in amber - all you can do is rage. But, with things going the way they are, I'd probably hurt myself. Knock my head or hit something while I flail and have yet another misery to add to the pile gathering around my knees.
Then, compounding all of that, is that I'm simply grouchy. Grouchy because a few years ago I lost a lot of weight - about forty pounds. I didn't do the fad diet thing. I didn't do anything but slow my eating to a graze, get a little more exercise and so on. Now I feel like it's all coming back. I lost it and now it's finding me again and I am not happy.
Part of it is, I think, my thyroid malfunctioning. I had thyroid problems in my early twenties and was on meds for it for about ten years, then I got preggers. That solved that for some reason and I haven't had problems since. Now, though, the weight gain, low energy, dry skin, hair is doing weird things all seem to point in the direction of the base of my throat.
Which isn't necessarily the end of the world. It just means I have to be more careful about what I eat (and how much), get more veggies and flax, more protein and less fat. But it's a nuisance. I'm hoping I can solve this without the meds because I won't even take my vitamins let alone 'scrips.
So, grr. Ah well, c'est la vie, c'est la guerre - all of this shall pass and then it'll be something else.
I hope you have a grouch-free, grump-free wonderful day! Me? I'm gonna go have that tantrum.
Best~
Philippa
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
Mattress Stuffing: What Does It Mean?
Yesterday I wrote about mutual funds - money market accounts, specifically, and how the banks and other financial entities appear to be looking at your money market funds while drool creeps from the corners of their mouths. It's money - and they want it. As much as they can lay hands on without further diluting the value of what there is by printing more.
There's good reason money is called the "root of all evil". People who don't have it will often do whatever it takes to get some. But it's an evil we all need. It is an absolute necessity for living like a human being. It buys stuff. It puts clothes on our backs, food in our bellies and a roof over our heads. It brings, or it at least appears to bring, power.
After all, if you have enough money, you can do just about anything you want because a) you're not beholden to anyone else; b) you can buy whatever or (in some cases, depending on the weakness of character of the other party) whoever; and c) if things don't go your way, you can retreat to some mountaintop - privately owned and well fortified, and do whatever you like there. Like sulk. Or build an army or something.
Because of the power of money, anyone with the lick of sense that God gave a chicken wants it.
So that's the money market thing. The safest of the safe might not be so safe after all because this house of cards we're living in is starting to shake. The bankers want your money to shore it up if the tiles start sliding off the roof and the foundation starts to crack.
So why else do I and others who pay at least passing attention to this stuff think the house is about to collapse? Because of what's happening with the Baltic Dry Index.
HUH? That's that you're thinking, right? I'm assuming that's what you're thinking because that's the reaction I had the first time I heard that term.
It is real. It has nothing to do with the northern part of Europe, and it has little to do with 'dry' - although it does, too.
It's shipping. Cargo and container shipping across the oceans, excluding oil tankers. Container and dry cargo shipping - concrete, lumber, steel, cars and so on - are an indicator of what's happening in the world economy.
If there's lots of cargo being shipped, that's good. That means people are making things and selling things and buying things because those cargo ships are full. If there is little cargo being shipped, that is bad. People aren't buying and making and selling.
Virtually all of the raw materials in the world get shipped by cargo carriers - dry bulk ships (hence the name 'dry' in Baltic Dry Index). Not everywhere in the world has all of the basic materials it needs to make things, so they ship it across the ocean from wherever they can buy it for the least amount of dinero.
China imports, the U.S. imports, Russia and virtually every other country on the planet imports - and most import both raw materials for manufacturing, and finished goods for sale.
So shipping is critical to a healthy economy. Without shipping in raw materials, China can't make the stuff they make. Without the shipping out, China would be overflowing with:
Instead, they pack all that stuff into containers, put it onto ships, and share that junk with the rest of the world.
However, if the rest of the world isn't buying, if China makes a bunch of stuff but nobody wants it because they've just looked in their wallet and their money isn't t'home, the stores don't order. The manufacturers don't ship, and those big, hugely expensive-to-operate cargo ships sit idle. And that's the indicator that not all is right with the financial world.
Idle ships, ships just sitting around in ports, rusting and collecting barnacles on their hulls, means commerce ain't happening. Buying and selling, trade, isn't taking place, and that means that people are holding onto their money, or they don't have money to spend on SpongeBob dolls.
When money contracts, isn't readily available, people turn from luxuries, like SpongeBob dolls, to necessities, like food. Here's an article from the LA Times that shows that this year's big shopping day - Black Friday - indicates that things aren't so rosy on the Main Street home front, no matter what the talking heads are saying:
"“Retailers are standing on the edge of a cliff,” said Britt Beemer, a retail expert at America's Research Group who has tracked U.S. holiday sales nationally for more than three decades. “These two days are a reflection that consumers are extremely cautious and are focused on buying necessities."
About 60% of Thanksgiving shoppers bought door-buster deals and nothing else, and an additional 7% picked up only one or two other items aside from major promotions, Beemer said. That's a problem for stores, which draw customers in with bargains in the hopes that they will toss pricier products in their baskets."
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-black-friday-shopping-20151126-story.html
What makes Black Friday so important is stated here, in this same article:
Retailers can haul in as much as 40% of their annual revenue during the holidays. This year, the retail industry's anxiety has ratcheted up after retailers, including Macy's and Nordstrom, reported disappointing third-quarter results.
40%! That is a lot - a boatload, one might say. And it's all tied together through the Baltic Dry Index.
All U.S. retailers - from Ross Dress-For-Less to Wal-Mart to Target to Macy's to Nordstrom - rely heavily on China, Korea, Indonesia and other countries around the world to produce the goods they sell. If the U.S. retailers can't sell those goods, if they have stock piling up in their warehouses because people aren't buying, they aren't ordering more stuff from China and Korea and Indonesia. The ships that carry that stuff aren't moving - they're sitting idle.
And that is what the Baltic Dry Index is indicating right now - the article below is from November 20, but as of day-before-yesterday, the Index was down to 484, even lower than mentioned in this article titled "We Just Got Major Sign that World Trade is Crashing":
http://www.businessinsider.com/baltic-dry-index-hitting-record-lows-2015-11?r=UK&IR=T
From this article:
"The index has always been used as a bellwether indicator for global trade conditions and the state of the international economy, but it attracted special attention after it pointed to the coming financial crisis back in 2008."
And that's why, ladies and gents, I think this house of cards is starting to shake pretty heavily.
Go stuff your mattress. I've got to get back to stuffing mine.
Best~
Philippa
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories
There's good reason money is called the "root of all evil". People who don't have it will often do whatever it takes to get some. But it's an evil we all need. It is an absolute necessity for living like a human being. It buys stuff. It puts clothes on our backs, food in our bellies and a roof over our heads. It brings, or it at least appears to bring, power.
After all, if you have enough money, you can do just about anything you want because a) you're not beholden to anyone else; b) you can buy whatever or (in some cases, depending on the weakness of character of the other party) whoever; and c) if things don't go your way, you can retreat to some mountaintop - privately owned and well fortified, and do whatever you like there. Like sulk. Or build an army or something.
Because of the power of money, anyone with the lick of sense that God gave a chicken wants it.
So that's the money market thing. The safest of the safe might not be so safe after all because this house of cards we're living in is starting to shake. The bankers want your money to shore it up if the tiles start sliding off the roof and the foundation starts to crack.
So why else do I and others who pay at least passing attention to this stuff think the house is about to collapse? Because of what's happening with the Baltic Dry Index.
HUH? That's that you're thinking, right? I'm assuming that's what you're thinking because that's the reaction I had the first time I heard that term.
It is real. It has nothing to do with the northern part of Europe, and it has little to do with 'dry' - although it does, too.
It's shipping. Cargo and container shipping across the oceans, excluding oil tankers. Container and dry cargo shipping - concrete, lumber, steel, cars and so on - are an indicator of what's happening in the world economy.
If there's lots of cargo being shipped, that's good. That means people are making things and selling things and buying things because those cargo ships are full. If there is little cargo being shipped, that is bad. People aren't buying and making and selling.
Virtually all of the raw materials in the world get shipped by cargo carriers - dry bulk ships (hence the name 'dry' in Baltic Dry Index). Not everywhere in the world has all of the basic materials it needs to make things, so they ship it across the ocean from wherever they can buy it for the least amount of dinero.
China imports, the U.S. imports, Russia and virtually every other country on the planet imports - and most import both raw materials for manufacturing, and finished goods for sale.
So shipping is critical to a healthy economy. Without shipping in raw materials, China can't make the stuff they make. Without the shipping out, China would be overflowing with:
 |
| misseye.wordpress.com |
However, if the rest of the world isn't buying, if China makes a bunch of stuff but nobody wants it because they've just looked in their wallet and their money isn't t'home, the stores don't order. The manufacturers don't ship, and those big, hugely expensive-to-operate cargo ships sit idle. And that's the indicator that not all is right with the financial world.
Idle ships, ships just sitting around in ports, rusting and collecting barnacles on their hulls, means commerce ain't happening. Buying and selling, trade, isn't taking place, and that means that people are holding onto their money, or they don't have money to spend on SpongeBob dolls.
When money contracts, isn't readily available, people turn from luxuries, like SpongeBob dolls, to necessities, like food. Here's an article from the LA Times that shows that this year's big shopping day - Black Friday - indicates that things aren't so rosy on the Main Street home front, no matter what the talking heads are saying:
"“Retailers are standing on the edge of a cliff,” said Britt Beemer, a retail expert at America's Research Group who has tracked U.S. holiday sales nationally for more than three decades. “These two days are a reflection that consumers are extremely cautious and are focused on buying necessities."
About 60% of Thanksgiving shoppers bought door-buster deals and nothing else, and an additional 7% picked up only one or two other items aside from major promotions, Beemer said. That's a problem for stores, which draw customers in with bargains in the hopes that they will toss pricier products in their baskets."
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-black-friday-shopping-20151126-story.html
What makes Black Friday so important is stated here, in this same article:
Retailers can haul in as much as 40% of their annual revenue during the holidays. This year, the retail industry's anxiety has ratcheted up after retailers, including Macy's and Nordstrom, reported disappointing third-quarter results.
40%! That is a lot - a boatload, one might say. And it's all tied together through the Baltic Dry Index.
All U.S. retailers - from Ross Dress-For-Less to Wal-Mart to Target to Macy's to Nordstrom - rely heavily on China, Korea, Indonesia and other countries around the world to produce the goods they sell. If the U.S. retailers can't sell those goods, if they have stock piling up in their warehouses because people aren't buying, they aren't ordering more stuff from China and Korea and Indonesia. The ships that carry that stuff aren't moving - they're sitting idle.
And that is what the Baltic Dry Index is indicating right now - the article below is from November 20, but as of day-before-yesterday, the Index was down to 484, even lower than mentioned in this article titled "We Just Got Major Sign that World Trade is Crashing":
http://www.businessinsider.com/baltic-dry-index-hitting-record-lows-2015-11?r=UK&IR=T
From this article:
"The index has always been used as a bellwether indicator for global trade conditions and the state of the international economy, but it attracted special attention after it pointed to the coming financial crisis back in 2008."
And that's why, ladies and gents, I think this house of cards is starting to shake pretty heavily.
Go stuff your mattress. I've got to get back to stuffing mine.
Best~
Philippa
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories
Tuesday, December 15, 2015
Separating You From Your Money
Nope, it's not me, it's those guys - the infamous 'they' in the basement.
Since putting up my post about the bond funds being gated the other day, I've continued to read and if I had any investments at all I would be worried.
You know those "safe" money market funds I mentioned? Those least-return-on-investment-but-safest-bet-if-the-bank-has-your-money funds that are allegedly the most stable of the stable in a 401k.
Well, I've got bad news for you. Governments, banks and fund managers are casting a longing eye over your nest egg. If they have their way, you might just get gated there, too.
Back on November 24, 2015 the Financial Times had this article:
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/3ff3dcce-928e-11e5-bd82-c1fb87bef7af.html#axzz3uMDzeC9z
Bond Market Seeks Repo Clearing Solution
The short course here, Econ 101:
A "repo" is a repurchase. A repurchase is when a bank wants something but it doesn't have the money it needs for that something. It looks in the sofa. It digs around in the cushions - the accounts of the bank's depositors. Without asking your permission it uses your money as collateral to fund the loan that it needs for the something it wants. After all, your money is just numbers in a computer, not piles of bills in a lock-box. So if you show up at the teller's cage but your money isn't at home, the teller takes money from someone else's account to fulfill your request. At some point the bank is supposed to put that money back.
This process keeps the liquidity of the bank liquid - they don't have to wait until some future date when their earnings and profits meet up with their want or need - they can have it now.
However, since the financial meltdown of 2007-2008 there have been a plethora of regulations and restrictions put in place to help stabilize the too-big-to-fails. The intent was to prevent a future crisis like that one. One regulation is Stress Testing - a form of "means testing" - if a crisis hit, would the bank be able to survive on its own? This means that banks can't use most of the funds available to invest in things. They have to keep enough money on hand that if there is a crisis, they'll be in a position to weather it.
That's irritating, almost galling, to the banks. They don't want to be restricted. They're like a spoiled three-year old who hasn't the first foggiest clue what the word "no" means. All that three-year old knows is that he's not getting what he wants, so he tries to figure out how to get it. In this case, the three-year olds are eyeing your savings - the nest egg in a money market account.
This is the key excerpt from the Financial Times article I linked above:
"At an annual private meeting between industry participants and the US Treasury Department last week, discussion focused on a proposed solution of placing repo trades between banks and investors, such as money market funds, into a clearing house."
Now the only thing I added there is the bold text. The words are not mine - they're from the Financial Times article - but what's highlighted is key.
There has been a meeting between the bankers, the Federal Reserve and the US Treasury in which they discussed putting your money into a clearing house. A single basket from which the bankers can borrow for their somethings.
That might not seem like a bad idea, until you think about the potential of gating.
What if that fund gets dipped into so often that it's depleted when investors need or want their money? What if there's another massive rumble through the financial markets and people want to get their money out to make sure they know where it is when they need it? What if, and this is the big one, it comes down to a tug-of-war between you and the bank - who do you think will win that battle? What if you have $100,000 of your $300,000 savings in that money market account that's in that single clearing-house basket and what if that basket is suddenly, without warning, 'gated'? Well, golly, sorry but you just lost 1/3 of your savings. 33.3333...% of your money is gone, just like that and you have no recourse.
In the years since 2007-2008 there have been a lot of changes in the financial markets and financial regulations. Unfortunately, these new regulations have had zero effect on the morals, ethics, characters and downright greed of the people who run our financial institutions. It's power and control and greed in its worst possible form.
Someone a whole lot smarter than me once said: "Power Tends to Corrupt, and Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely" (he was John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Duke of Acton, and a pretty smart guy).
When the banks have as much power as they have, in collusion with the World-wide Central Banking system aiding and abetting their every unsavory move, and the Treasury Department standing by to do their bidding (printprintprintprintprint), there is little hope for the individual investor.
Personally, I have minimal exposure to cash in any form. I own no stocks, no bonds, no investment vehicles. When I started at my new job last January and was offered a 401k I immediately, and with zero regret or hesitation, opted out.
I prefer it this way. I have what I need and I know where it is. Do you?
I hope so. In the meantime, have a lovely financially secure day. There is more coming: the Baltic Dry Index and a potential bail-out for these junk bond funds. Tomorrow, though, tomorrow because I think I've given you enough food for thought for today.
Best~
Philippa
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilippaStories
Since putting up my post about the bond funds being gated the other day, I've continued to read and if I had any investments at all I would be worried.
You know those "safe" money market funds I mentioned? Those least-return-on-investment-but-safest-bet-if-the-bank-has-your-money funds that are allegedly the most stable of the stable in a 401k.
Well, I've got bad news for you. Governments, banks and fund managers are casting a longing eye over your nest egg. If they have their way, you might just get gated there, too.
Back on November 24, 2015 the Financial Times had this article:
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/3ff3dcce-928e-11e5-bd82-c1fb87bef7af.html#axzz3uMDzeC9z
Bond Market Seeks Repo Clearing Solution
The short course here, Econ 101:
A "repo" is a repurchase. A repurchase is when a bank wants something but it doesn't have the money it needs for that something. It looks in the sofa. It digs around in the cushions - the accounts of the bank's depositors. Without asking your permission it uses your money as collateral to fund the loan that it needs for the something it wants. After all, your money is just numbers in a computer, not piles of bills in a lock-box. So if you show up at the teller's cage but your money isn't at home, the teller takes money from someone else's account to fulfill your request. At some point the bank is supposed to put that money back.
This process keeps the liquidity of the bank liquid - they don't have to wait until some future date when their earnings and profits meet up with their want or need - they can have it now.
However, since the financial meltdown of 2007-2008 there have been a plethora of regulations and restrictions put in place to help stabilize the too-big-to-fails. The intent was to prevent a future crisis like that one. One regulation is Stress Testing - a form of "means testing" - if a crisis hit, would the bank be able to survive on its own? This means that banks can't use most of the funds available to invest in things. They have to keep enough money on hand that if there is a crisis, they'll be in a position to weather it.
That's irritating, almost galling, to the banks. They don't want to be restricted. They're like a spoiled three-year old who hasn't the first foggiest clue what the word "no" means. All that three-year old knows is that he's not getting what he wants, so he tries to figure out how to get it. In this case, the three-year olds are eyeing your savings - the nest egg in a money market account.
This is the key excerpt from the Financial Times article I linked above:
"At an annual private meeting between industry participants and the US Treasury Department last week, discussion focused on a proposed solution of placing repo trades between banks and investors, such as money market funds, into a clearing house."
Now the only thing I added there is the bold text. The words are not mine - they're from the Financial Times article - but what's highlighted is key.
There has been a meeting between the bankers, the Federal Reserve and the US Treasury in which they discussed putting your money into a clearing house. A single basket from which the bankers can borrow for their somethings.
That might not seem like a bad idea, until you think about the potential of gating.
What if that fund gets dipped into so often that it's depleted when investors need or want their money? What if there's another massive rumble through the financial markets and people want to get their money out to make sure they know where it is when they need it? What if, and this is the big one, it comes down to a tug-of-war between you and the bank - who do you think will win that battle? What if you have $100,000 of your $300,000 savings in that money market account that's in that single clearing-house basket and what if that basket is suddenly, without warning, 'gated'? Well, golly, sorry but you just lost 1/3 of your savings. 33.3333...% of your money is gone, just like that and you have no recourse.
In the years since 2007-2008 there have been a lot of changes in the financial markets and financial regulations. Unfortunately, these new regulations have had zero effect on the morals, ethics, characters and downright greed of the people who run our financial institutions. It's power and control and greed in its worst possible form.
Someone a whole lot smarter than me once said: "Power Tends to Corrupt, and Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely" (he was John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Duke of Acton, and a pretty smart guy).
When the banks have as much power as they have, in collusion with the World-wide Central Banking system aiding and abetting their every unsavory move, and the Treasury Department standing by to do their bidding (printprintprintprintprint), there is little hope for the individual investor.
Personally, I have minimal exposure to cash in any form. I own no stocks, no bonds, no investment vehicles. When I started at my new job last January and was offered a 401k I immediately, and with zero regret or hesitation, opted out.
I prefer it this way. I have what I need and I know where it is. Do you?
I hope so. In the meantime, have a lovely financially secure day. There is more coming: the Baltic Dry Index and a potential bail-out for these junk bond funds. Tomorrow, though, tomorrow because I think I've given you enough food for thought for today.
Best~
Philippa
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