So, is it time for that change yet?

Wednesday, February 18, 2009 at 10:28 am (Writing by Ear)
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I’m not the first or only one to say this (I rarely am). But isn’t it time for that change we kept hearing about? Specifically, isn’t it time for the powers-that-be to stop dwelling on how awful things are and start leading the charge? (And I don’t mean with plastic.)

I get it. The economy is bad. It’s likely to get worse. Much of the retirement fund I spent the last 20 years building is gone. I won’t be able to afford to retire or to have long-term care when I simply can’t make my fingers push the keys anymore. I GET IT.

And so did the powers-that-be — to the tune of $787 billion. 

Isn’t it time, finally, for some encouragement from our leaders?

…the only thing we have to fear is fear itself…. (FDR)

Isn’t it time for reassurance that we still live in the greatest country the Earth has ever known and we will not let this destroy us?

We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air. We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing-grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender! (Winston Churchill)

Isn’t it time for a little pep talk?

But don’t forget, men — we’re gonna get ’em on the run, we’re gonna go, go, go, go! — and we aren’t going to stop until we go over that goal line! And don’t forget, men — today is the day we’re gonna win. They can’t lick us — and that’s how it goes… The first platoon men — go in there and fight, fight, fight, fight, fight! What do you say, men!  (Knute Rockne)

Isn’t it time for a little positive thinking?

Isn’t it time for Hollywood to get back to its roots?

Isn’t it time to restore our confidence?

rosie_the_riveter

Sadly, it seems to be time for more platitudes about tightening our belts (mine, like most Americans’, is too tight already, and it has nothing to do with economizing). And scare tactics. And a lot of preaching, but not a lot of practicing.

I’m a pretty good self-motivator. But in tough times, it would be nice not to have to be.

To lead the people, walk behind them. 
                                      ~ Lao Tzu

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TV: Rotting my brain or saving it?

Monday, February 16, 2009 at 11:33 pm (Hack for Hire, Writing by Ear)
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I know people who don’t bother with TV. They don’t have cable and barely have a TV that works at all. They spend their time doing more useful things, like reading or hobbies. If they do watch TV, it’s all PBS or nature programs or The History Channel. (Sometimes, though, that backfires. My one sister, who has only bare-bones TV [no cable, one-channel reception], is INSTANTLY mesmerized whenever she encounters “real” TV. Deer in the headlights, unable to tear herself away, no matter what’s on. It’s priceless. My other sister and I have a field day with it: Assume the position — tilted head, glassy-eyed stare….)

Make no mistake: I really admire people who can do without TV. I think about how much more I could accomplish if my eyes weren’t glued to the boob tube every night. I might actually read a book once in a while, keep the house clean, cook a week’s worth of dinners in advance, take up a new craft or hobby. Instead…I look forward to 7:30 or 8:00 PM when I get to turn off my mind and turn on the tube (yeah, I know it doesn’t have tubes anymore).

I especially look forward to the nights my favorites are on. Please don’t call me on Monday nights during The Big Bang Theory or Two and a Half Men. Get lost during Lost on Wednesdays. Heaven help you if you interrupt The Office on Thursdays. Sunday nights are all about Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters. And please don’t try to talk to me while they’re on (I’m not ignoring you honey, but it’s kind of important to listen to what the characters are saying…).

Why? One, I like to laugh, and nothing makes me laugh more than BBT, TAAHM, or The Office. Two, escape. Lost is just ridiculous enough to be engaging, and the amount of detail and obscure references that go into it is quite amazing. Three, as I told Mike last night during Brothers & Sisters, it’s all about perspective: “See what problems we’d have if you were running for governor and I had written a best-seller?” Whew, thank goodness that’s never gonna happen.

Mostly, though, I think it’s number four: I need someone else to do the thinking for awhile. I need to marvel at the storylines, jokes, and dialog some other, more talented hack for hire came up with. I need to forget my days are spent writing about that which I have only the most cursory knowledge or interest: like today’s topic: Economic Capital (EC), and today’s task: turning “bullet points” like this into a clear and engaging story: Assist in devleoping complete EC pilot process, including scenario generators, process for determining appropriate stress for each risk, interfaces between components, and correlation matrix; and Design and construct aggregator to combine liability results for various market shocks in to a single EC result using the correlation matrix.

Most days, it’s all I can do to clean up the dinner dishes before collapsing on the couch. (Did I mention we eat in front of the TV every night?) And no, I don’t have kids to take care of, a 5:00 AM wake-up time, a long commute, or office politics to deal with like many of you do. I’ve been exercising regularly, so “boosting my energy” hasn’t helped (though I’m getting hooked on having a cuppa joe around 3:00 PM every day, sometimes caffeinated). By prime time, I’m ready and willing to zone out.

Sure the winter and seemingly perpetual darkness play a role (dinner, and TV, are later in the summer). So does the omnipresent, staring-us-in-the-face fact that we should both be spending our nights working on one of the numerous this old house projects we have in the works. But we’re no spring chickens. We’re not that obsessed. And we have company like once every two or three months, so nobody sees our messes but us.

And, ya know, I just like to watch TV. I love falling asleep to it every night. I love turning on The Weather Channel first thing to see what the day has in store. I love that it’s always there to keep me company, should I get sick of being alone all day. I love living vicariously on HGTV.

Am I rotting my brain? Maybe. Probably. But I’m saving it too…letting it rest and recuperate so I can face another day of: Design inital output reports and analyses from projection models and aggregator, including treatment of diversification benefits, calculation of Risk-Adjusted Return On Capital (RAROC), and roll-forward attribution analysis.

I love TV.

I could have been a doctor, but there were too many good shows on TV. 
                                                                        ~ Jason Love

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The house next door

Friday, February 13, 2009 at 4:13 pm (Cottage Industry, Heavy Clay)
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It’s for sale. Sheriff’s sale. Since the owners up and abandoned it last spring, Mike and I have been alternately rejoicing they took their smelly dog enclosure with them (nothing like the scent of dog doo wafting over the shade garden) and worrying what would become of the place.

According to our neighbor, the house was nothing to look at 40 years ago when she was a kid and occasionally played with the kids who lived there then. Surely it’s gone downhill after a series of negligent owners. We fought mosquitoes all last summer because they left their above-ground pool full and water collected in the cover and was a nasty West Nile soup.

It’s an odd little house — yellow stucco — and may have been charming at one time. (Although more appropriate for the neighborhood known as “Spanish Villa” across the highway from us.) Now it’s just scary, complete with dangling icicle lights from Christmases past, plastic wrap on the windows, mold and branches on the roof (surely it leaks), and giant, poison ivy-infested evergreens all around. Not to mention a tumbledown shed, and that pool, wrapped in a large lattice-y deck/fence thing.

Even before it was abandoned, Mike and I made several forays across the property line to clean up fallen branches and prune overgrown trees and shrubs that were spoiling our view. I ruthlessly sprayed heavy-duty Round-Up on all the poison ivy I saw — which was considerable. We never interacted with (or really even saw) the owners, save for a couple encounters with their kids, whom I always felt sorry for. It was from one of the boys that I learned “We might be moving…” and crossed my fingers.

It’s been nice not having such negligent neighbors, but we’re worried about what might happen now that it’s up for sheriff’s sale in a few weeks. We’d love to have the property — our 50-foot-wide lot is so confining — but certainly don’t have the cash to blow on buying it and then having to worry about tearing down the house (I can’t imagine it could/should be saved). Plus the grounds are a disaster — even mowing the giant, sloping front yard (the house sits far back from ours) would be a challenge. Plus there’s no garage, which would have been a real selling point since ours is so inadequate, and only a LONG gravel driveway that washes down on the road all the time.

But, that frivolous right brain of mine can’t help but imagine what could be if we had the money and weren’t totally consumed with all the half-finished DIY projects on this side of the property line. How nice it would be to double the size of our lot — plant trees, fence it in, build a combination potting shed/garage with a studio above (hey, a girl can dream), design our own “secret garden.” A very Western PA version of A Year in Provence or Under the Tuscan Sun. (Yeah, we’d probably fly a Steeler flag somewhere, too.)

I long ago picked out the perfect spot to “connect” the two yards — a grand arbor or something right between these two trees…

thegateway

Instead, we have to wait and see. Hope some good people buy the place and not gypsies, tramps, or thieves. Hope we don’t rue the day we didn’t take out a second mortgage to buy it ourselves. 

Oh, did I mention scenario #173? The one in which she opens a charming B&B that becomes a smashing success and pays for itself and lets her stop having to hack for hire and instead hack write purely for fun?

Right brain is nothing if not imaginative…

the-wreck

There’s a long, long trail a-winding into the land of my dreams. 
                                                                ~ Stoddard King, Jr.

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