Only 4 more days till the I.S.J.D.E.'s December bingo game, and have I got something planned for the blackout prize!
What am I donating? A special gift basket I'm putting together myself. It will contain some of my fabulous fudge (guys just love to pack my fudge away), some of my Wesley Toll House cookies, some of my quickly becoming famous applesauce cake (got the recipe from my great-grandmother Julia), a 1 quart jar of homemade cherry pie oatmeal mix, and a 1 quart jar of my specially blended trail mix with dates and raisins.
I like to have the goodies I bake or make as fresh as possible when I give them away, so I started making them today with the fabulous fudge. It's cooling and solidifying even as I type this, and should be ready by Thursday's bingo game. I could put it in the refrigerator and it would be solidified sooner, but that tends to cause it to cool to quickly and get all grainy. No, the slow way is the best way.
Tomorrow (12/1/08) I will be making my "Wesley Toll House" cookies, and Tuesday (12/2/08) the applesauce cake.
I'm really hoping this gets more people out to our December bingo so we can raise as much money as possible for the I.S.J.D.E.'s "From The Heart" this year.
Not much else to talk about at the moment, but if anything else comes up, I'll keep you all informed.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Fucking, Austria
Believe it or not, there is such a place. Don't believe me? Check it out on Wikipedia and on an episode of The Graham Norton Show with Rosanne as the guest.
A little warning though, don't eat or drink anything while watching the YouTube clip. You'll either choke on it or laugh it out your nose. You have been warned.
A little warning though, don't eat or drink anything while watching the YouTube clip. You'll either choke on it or laugh it out your nose. You have been warned.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Bush's Last Days: The Lamest Duck
We have "only one President at a time," Barack Obama said in his debut press conference as President-elect. Normally, that would be a safe assumption - but we're learning not to assume anything as the charcoal-dreary economic winter approaches. By mid-November, with the financial crisis growing worse by the day, it had become obvious that one President was no longer enough (at least not the President we had). So, in the days before Thanksgiving, Obama began to move - if not to take charge outright, then at least to preview what things will be like when he does take over in January. He became a more public presence, taking questions from the press three days in a row. He named his economic team. He promised an enormous stimulus package that would somehow create 2.5 million new jobs, and began to maneuver the new Congress toward having the bill ready for him to sign - in a dramatic ceremony, no doubt - as soon as he assumes office.
That we have slightly more than one President for the moment is mostly a consequence of the extraordinary economic times. Even if George Washington were the incumbent, the markets would want to know what John Adams was planning to do after his Inauguration. And yet this final humiliation seems particularly appropriate for George W. Bush. At the end of a presidency of stupefying ineptitude, he has become the lamest of all possible ducks.
It is in the nature of mainstream journalism to attempt to be kind to Presidents when they are coming and going but to be fiercely skeptical in between. I've been feeling sorry for Bush lately, a feeling partly induced by recent fictional depictions of the President as an amiable lunkhead in Oliver Stone's W. and in Curtis Sittenfeld's terrific novel American Wife. There was a photo in the New York Times that seemed to sum up his current circumstance: Bush in Peru, dressed in an alpaca poncho, standing alone just after the photo op at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, with various Asian leaders departing the stage, none of them making eye contact with him. Bush has that forlorn what-the-hell-happened? expression on his face, the one that has marked his presidency at difficult times. You never want to see the President of the United States looking like that.
So I've been searching for valedictory encomiums. His position on immigration was admirable and courageous; he was right about the Dubai Ports deal and about free trade in general. He spoke well, in the abstract, about the importance of freedom. He is an impeccable classicist when it comes to baseball. And that just about does it for me. I'd add the bracing moment of Bush with the bullhorn in the ruins of the World Trade Center, but that was neutered in my memory by his ridiculous, preening appearance in a flight suit on the deck of the aircraft carrier beneath the "Mission Accomplished" sign. The flight-suit image is one of the two defining moments of the Bush failure. The other is the photo of Bush staring out the window of Air Force One, helplessly viewing the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina. This is a presidency that has wobbled between those two poles - overweening arrogance and paralytic incompetence.
The latter has held sway these past few months as the economy has crumbled. It is too early to rate the performance of Bush's economic team, but we have more than enough evidence to say, definitively, that at a moment when there was a vast national need for reassurance, the President himself was a cipher. Yes, he's a lame duck with an Antarctic approval rating - but can you imagine Bill Clinton going so gently into the night? There are substantive gestures available to a President that do not involve the use of force or photo ops. For example, Bush could have boosted the public spirit - and the auto industry - by announcing that he was scrapping the entire federal automotive fleet, including the presidential limousine, and replacing it with hybrids made in Detroit. He could have jump-started - and he still could - the Obama Plan by releasing funds for a green-jobs program to insulate public buildings. He could start funding the transit projects already approved by Congress.
In the end, though, it will not be the creative paralysis that defines Bush. It will be his intellectual laziness, at home and abroad. Bush never understood, or cared about, the delicate balance between freedom and regulation that was necessary to make markets work. He never understood, or cared about, the delicate balance between freedom and equity that was necessary to maintain the strong middle class required for both prosperity and democracy. He never considered the complexities of the cultures he was invading. He never understood that faith, unaccompanied by rigorous skepticism, is a recipe for myopia and foolishness. He is less than President now, and that is appropriate. He was never very much of one.
That we have slightly more than one President for the moment is mostly a consequence of the extraordinary economic times. Even if George Washington were the incumbent, the markets would want to know what John Adams was planning to do after his Inauguration. And yet this final humiliation seems particularly appropriate for George W. Bush. At the end of a presidency of stupefying ineptitude, he has become the lamest of all possible ducks.
It is in the nature of mainstream journalism to attempt to be kind to Presidents when they are coming and going but to be fiercely skeptical in between. I've been feeling sorry for Bush lately, a feeling partly induced by recent fictional depictions of the President as an amiable lunkhead in Oliver Stone's W. and in Curtis Sittenfeld's terrific novel American Wife. There was a photo in the New York Times that seemed to sum up his current circumstance: Bush in Peru, dressed in an alpaca poncho, standing alone just after the photo op at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, with various Asian leaders departing the stage, none of them making eye contact with him. Bush has that forlorn what-the-hell-happened? expression on his face, the one that has marked his presidency at difficult times. You never want to see the President of the United States looking like that.
So I've been searching for valedictory encomiums. His position on immigration was admirable and courageous; he was right about the Dubai Ports deal and about free trade in general. He spoke well, in the abstract, about the importance of freedom. He is an impeccable classicist when it comes to baseball. And that just about does it for me. I'd add the bracing moment of Bush with the bullhorn in the ruins of the World Trade Center, but that was neutered in my memory by his ridiculous, preening appearance in a flight suit on the deck of the aircraft carrier beneath the "Mission Accomplished" sign. The flight-suit image is one of the two defining moments of the Bush failure. The other is the photo of Bush staring out the window of Air Force One, helplessly viewing the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina. This is a presidency that has wobbled between those two poles - overweening arrogance and paralytic incompetence.
The latter has held sway these past few months as the economy has crumbled. It is too early to rate the performance of Bush's economic team, but we have more than enough evidence to say, definitively, that at a moment when there was a vast national need for reassurance, the President himself was a cipher. Yes, he's a lame duck with an Antarctic approval rating - but can you imagine Bill Clinton going so gently into the night? There are substantive gestures available to a President that do not involve the use of force or photo ops. For example, Bush could have boosted the public spirit - and the auto industry - by announcing that he was scrapping the entire federal automotive fleet, including the presidential limousine, and replacing it with hybrids made in Detroit. He could have jump-started - and he still could - the Obama Plan by releasing funds for a green-jobs program to insulate public buildings. He could start funding the transit projects already approved by Congress.
In the end, though, it will not be the creative paralysis that defines Bush. It will be his intellectual laziness, at home and abroad. Bush never understood, or cared about, the delicate balance between freedom and regulation that was necessary to make markets work. He never understood, or cared about, the delicate balance between freedom and equity that was necessary to maintain the strong middle class required for both prosperity and democracy. He never considered the complexities of the cultures he was invading. He never understood that faith, unaccompanied by rigorous skepticism, is a recipe for myopia and foolishness. He is less than President now, and that is appropriate. He was never very much of one.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
WOW! It's hard to believe it's been nine days since my last post, but there it is. Today is November 25th, and my last post was November 16th.
I guess I've been concentrating more on my playing of the "CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge" contest. I'm doing well enough I suppose. Of the 5 portfolios I'm running, my best performing is up 6.2% since November 17th.
I've taken advantage of Friday and Monday's HUGE upswing to lock in some profits and am now sitting on a butt load of virtual cash. Given the market volatility, I think it wise to have a large cash reserve to take advantage of market momentum.
To any of you who read my blog, only 11 days left to take part in my latest survey and decide what kind of recipe will be posted on my next "Recipe of the Month" on December 7th.
My next survey will relate to a secret fantasy of mine. I wonder how many will vote in that one.
I guess I've been concentrating more on my playing of the "CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge" contest. I'm doing well enough I suppose. Of the 5 portfolios I'm running, my best performing is up 6.2% since November 17th.
I've taken advantage of Friday and Monday's HUGE upswing to lock in some profits and am now sitting on a butt load of virtual cash. Given the market volatility, I think it wise to have a large cash reserve to take advantage of market momentum.
To any of you who read my blog, only 11 days left to take part in my latest survey and decide what kind of recipe will be posted on my next "Recipe of the Month" on December 7th.
My next survey will relate to a secret fantasy of mine. I wonder how many will vote in that one.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
The CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge
Tomorrow begins the next CNBC Million Dollar Portfolio Challenge, and I'm getting my strategies ready. If you're interested in playing yourselves, follow the link and sign up. It's a fun game, and if you win, 1st prize is $500,000 plus the use of a private jet for one year.
I'm following a very basic strategy for the five portfolios I'm allowed to play for the duration of the 10 week game. My first portfolio will be an investment in the 5 worst performing stocks invested in my real world portfolio. The second is a selection of contrarian stocks I picked using the Yahoo! stock screener. The others are, large cap ($500million or more) momentum stocks, the five lowest priced stocks that have a "buy" rating from the majority of stock investors, and the fifth and final portfolio will be invested in the stocks of regional banks.
I know all of that must sound like so much gobbledygook to most of you, but that's ok. Not everyone is as fascinated by the concept of stock market investing as I am.
I've always been interested in investing. Ever since I was about 16 years old or so and I wanted to invest some of the money I had saved from my paper route in MTV. It was going public, and I thought it was a great opportunity. My mother thought differently though, and since I was under 18, I needed her permission to open a brokerage account. She said no. She told me that MTV was a fad, and if I invested in it, I would lose all my hard earned $500 when it went bankrupt! MTV bankrupt? If she were alive today, I'd ask her if the only reason it didn't go bankrupt was because I didn't invest.
I know the real reason she didn't want me to invest though. If I put my money into the stock market, she would not have ready access to be able to "borrow" it. I often wonder why I just didn't hand her my paper rout money every month, since she was going to end up with it every way. Oh, well.
By the way, I've been following MTV ever since it went public (It's part of VIACOM now). If I had been allowed to invest my $500 back in the early 1980s, what with stock splits, price appreciation, and the huge run up when they got taken over by VIACOM, my $500 would be worth $5,108.98 today. But, am I bitter? ABSOFUCKINGLUTELY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm following a very basic strategy for the five portfolios I'm allowed to play for the duration of the 10 week game. My first portfolio will be an investment in the 5 worst performing stocks invested in my real world portfolio. The second is a selection of contrarian stocks I picked using the Yahoo! stock screener. The others are, large cap ($500million or more) momentum stocks, the five lowest priced stocks that have a "buy" rating from the majority of stock investors, and the fifth and final portfolio will be invested in the stocks of regional banks.
I know all of that must sound like so much gobbledygook to most of you, but that's ok. Not everyone is as fascinated by the concept of stock market investing as I am.
I've always been interested in investing. Ever since I was about 16 years old or so and I wanted to invest some of the money I had saved from my paper route in MTV. It was going public, and I thought it was a great opportunity. My mother thought differently though, and since I was under 18, I needed her permission to open a brokerage account. She said no. She told me that MTV was a fad, and if I invested in it, I would lose all my hard earned $500 when it went bankrupt! MTV bankrupt? If she were alive today, I'd ask her if the only reason it didn't go bankrupt was because I didn't invest.
I know the real reason she didn't want me to invest though. If I put my money into the stock market, she would not have ready access to be able to "borrow" it. I often wonder why I just didn't hand her my paper rout money every month, since she was going to end up with it every way. Oh, well.
By the way, I've been following MTV ever since it went public (It's part of VIACOM now). If I had been allowed to invest my $500 back in the early 1980s, what with stock splits, price appreciation, and the huge run up when they got taken over by VIACOM, my $500 would be worth $5,108.98 today. But, am I bitter? ABSOFUCKINGLUTELY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Friday, November 14, 2008
I Just Got a Phone Call
I won't say who it was from, or any details of the conversation, except to say it was basically like every other phone call I've gotten for the last two years. Someone wanted something from me.
Those are the only kinds of phone calls I get any more. If the phone rings, I know someone wants something from me. Either something I have that they want to borrow, or some service they need me to perform.
No one ever calls because they want to do something for me. An invitation to dinner? Come see a new DVD? Go with to see a movie downtown? Nothing purely social, or even just to talk. No one comes over to visit for a game of chess or a cup of tea. Hell, I even keep some bottled beer in my refrigerator for those who want something stronger. Still, nothing.
Those are the only kinds of phone calls I get any more. If the phone rings, I know someone wants something from me. Either something I have that they want to borrow, or some service they need me to perform.
No one ever calls because they want to do something for me. An invitation to dinner? Come see a new DVD? Go with to see a movie downtown? Nothing purely social, or even just to talk. No one comes over to visit for a game of chess or a cup of tea. Hell, I even keep some bottled beer in my refrigerator for those who want something stronger. Still, nothing.
Monday, November 10, 2008
This Was Disgusting
I just heard this on the news, and I found it totally disgusting. Someone in San Jose is wanted for torturing cats. One poor little cat had to be euthanized because it was in such bad shape after having rubber bands tied around it's paws, tail, and neck.
According to the news report, an award for information leading to the capture and arrest of the sicko responsible has been building up, and is now at $7,000.00. If if found the person responsible, I would ask that the money be donated to the A.S.P.C.A. and the Humane Society. For something like this, it would be wrong to keep the money.
It may not sound like such a big deal to some, I can hear a few people (none of my readers though, I'm sure) saying, "Hey, it's only cats." Well my friend, aside from the cruelty shown to a defenseless animal, serial killers like Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacey, and Jeffrey Dahlmer got started by torturing animals, and if the Tao Te Ching teaches us anything, "It is easier to uproot a tree while it's still a sapling rather than fully grown."
I'm sorry if I sound like I'm ranting, but I am a cat person, and think the person who's been torturing those cats in San Jose has a special place in Hell reserved for them. If their is justice in the afterlife (and I think there is), Bastet will be his/her (but statistically more likely to be a "he") personal tormentor for the rest of Eternity, and if he re-incarnates, he'll come back as a cat.
According to the news report, an award for information leading to the capture and arrest of the sicko responsible has been building up, and is now at $7,000.00. If if found the person responsible, I would ask that the money be donated to the A.S.P.C.A. and the Humane Society. For something like this, it would be wrong to keep the money.
It may not sound like such a big deal to some, I can hear a few people (none of my readers though, I'm sure) saying, "Hey, it's only cats." Well my friend, aside from the cruelty shown to a defenseless animal, serial killers like Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacey, and Jeffrey Dahlmer got started by torturing animals, and if the Tao Te Ching teaches us anything, "It is easier to uproot a tree while it's still a sapling rather than fully grown."
I'm sorry if I sound like I'm ranting, but I am a cat person, and think the person who's been torturing those cats in San Jose has a special place in Hell reserved for them. If their is justice in the afterlife (and I think there is), Bastet will be his/her (but statistically more likely to be a "he") personal tormentor for the rest of Eternity, and if he re-incarnates, he'll come back as a cat.
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