Winter of discontent

So now even my company is starting to feel the pinch. For months they've been talking about how bad things are, but now they seem almost on the verge of considering action. Meanwhile the dollar has dipped below 91 yen.

I was shocked on Friday that the markets held their own, but I think we're on the verge of another plunge into the shithole. I mean there's been nothing but bad news about retail/ unemployment/ manufacturing/ bailouts/ OPEC. What is holding up the markets now? We had drops on less crap than this a few months ago. I'm not even going to mention the B word, because I don't believe it.

Before I had a tree metaphor, but the new one is the flaming bag. This economy is like opening your door to a flaming bag. There it is on fire. Better stamp it out before things get bad. Then you find out: this bag really sucks. It's not just some fire that can be doused and that's the end of it. It's just going to be bad. It's going to stay with you. Shit.

Another Massacre

The markets just don't seem to be getting any better. Interest rates drop around the world, and governments are shoving money at the problem as fast as they can, but somehow things aren't getting better. I have no idea what they should do. I thought they should raise interest rates earlier, but that doesn't help us now. GM, Chrysler and AIG are all on the edge. Circuit City is gone. My grandfather the economist says these companies will recover once the economy picks up again, but how the hell is that going to happen? Housing prices still aren't projected to bottom any time soon. The US consumer has at long last surrendered. No one in the world seems willing to buy anything. The US is fried. China is falling apart. India has never been good for much. Russia is on the verge of going back to autocracy. Western Europe is totally panicking. South America is supposedly better than it was during the last economic collapse, maybe we should all invest there... I just don't know how things are going to get better, and the signs of things getting worse are just frightening. It's like a big tree and every day the guy with the ax is hacking away at the bottom. It can't collapse, right? It just can't right? Even if the companies collapse, the financial system will be okay, right? If not the financials then the governments? If not the governments, at least I'll be okay, right? Right? Frankly, I'm not sure of anything anymore.

Massacre

My god. What a disaster for the Republican Party. When Obama was swollen with pride, I never believed things could look this good. Sure Bush was crap, and had destroyed the party. He'd done that in 2003. If no one cared in 2004 or 2006, why the hell would they care in 2008? But now... Every close race that has been called has fallen to the Democrats. John Sununu? I've heard of that guy... Talk about sweeping the tables. The only thing sweeter would be if people were voting on the foreign policy issues which are still deceptively important.

Pop

So I've been riding my bicycle to work for over a week now. I don't actually like it, but I don't want to acquire another car now. I decided to pump my tires a little more this morning, and I put them up to around 60 psi. Then I headed out, and as I start riding down the road, BAM loud noise in the back. That would be the back tire as I soon confirmed.
Frankly that sucked, but every dark cloud has a silver lining. That meant that I could bum a ride instead od riding in. That actually was kind of nice. The problem is I don't intend on doing it again.
After work I hitched rides to WalMart to buy another tube, and then home. Installing the tube was way easier than I expected, and I pumped her right up. Job done. Problem is the rear tire tread got torn (side effect of when I ripped off the back tube). So the new tube was bulging out like a tumor. I can't very well go to WalMart again, and I don't really want to buy a new tire just yet, so I decided to stitch the tread back together.
Unfortunately my wife left me, and she took the needle and thread with her (or at least put them where I can't find them). Instead I used dental floss for thread, and a toothpick for an awl. It is working so far. We'll see. Friday should be my last bike riding day.
Speaking of bulging tumors, my mouse has a big nasty one. She needs surgery, but I'm too cheap and heartless to give it to her. I honestly feel bad about it, but not bad enough to get it for her. I want her to be well, but it's just can't happen. That sucks. So this has been a hard week, and this has been a hard day. I'll see my wife on Friday, and then I'll take a break, and then I'll be able to borrow a car. Two more days.

Mr. Outspoken Blog

So I was in the grocery store today. The place was packed which was disgusting because I just wanted to get in, buy a sack of white rice and leave. Even the self-checkout had a line. So I grab my rice, come back and look things over. I choose the express lane, cause it actually seems shortest. I look at the lady in front of me, and I think "Her cart is full. There is no way that is less than twenty items. Limit fifteen." So I start counting them. Out loud. About thirteen she noticed and looked around and finally saw the sign. As she wheeled her way out she says "First, that was really rude." She left without coming up with second, and I checked out at least three minutes faster because of it. Now usually isn't that a situation where she should apologize to me?