Qualified Busy

Work seems busy at times, but when it's all said and done, the returns just are not adding up. The next two weeks are sort of the make-or-break point; we should be around 80% of goal by February 15. Given that we are running about half of what we should be so far, it ain't looking good. At least the loony's seem to have crawled back into whatever hole they came out of. With luck, they'll stay there (yea, right...).

Signs of the times: we have more door and phone traffic asking about work than asking about getting taxes done. And this is in an area with relatively low unemployment. I feel bad, but all I can offer until things pick up is a job standing on the side of the road waving at traffic.

We don't seem to have time for much else other than work and/or juggling one car trying to get ourselves back and forth to work. It is likely to stay that way until February 15th when my hours will be going down a bit, and even then it will be somewhat hectic. Not like we really want to do anything other than sit in apartment anyway. This week went from 50 degrees and monsoons to blizzard conditions on Thursday, changing to bitter cold (current temp is 1) and crazy wind. All in all, may as well be working all the time.

I stumbled across an interesting essay titled The Coming of the Fourth American Republic. I'll admit that I started reading it expecting some kooky bit about a coming civil war in the US like a lot of those nutty blogger write [looks off into the middle distance whistling to himself]. But instead it was a fairly reasoned piece on the sort of natural cycles that seem to govern everything from families to international politics and ends on a fairly optimistic note. But then I read this week's Archdruid Report on the passivity and the culture of victimology that has taken over and wonder if there is any reason for optimism after all.

Something random about Flint, Michigan where both of us were born:

There's something missing on the state's new "Pure Michigan Living" Web site — the entire greater Flint area.

State officials say that won't always be the case but, for now at least, visitors to the site won't get a chance to read about Genesee County or its assets.

Um, maybe that's because there aren't any? Unless you consider empty houses and boarded up businesses to be "assets."

Anyone that uses Facebook will appreciate How to Suck at Facebook. I really have nothing to add.

NASA has given up on getting Spirit unstuck and is now focusing on how to keep it alive through the coming winter. At least it got stuck in an interesting area so it can spend the rest of its life as a stationary science platform. Meanwhile, Opportunity is still chugging along.

Experts see another dip in the economy. The current blip is an opportunity to put yourself into a defensive position, not to go on a spending spree.

And that's all I have time for. Gotta run.