Settling In

I'm starting to settle into a routine of sorts with this whole census thing, although yesterday was extremely frustrating. I put in the closest thing to a full day so far and ended up with less to show for it. I'm going to try something different today and maybe get productivity up. And a note to the "foreign born": the census is something we do here in the US; if you don't like it, go back to where ever it is you came from.

Not much else happening with us personally other than hunkering down and making as much money as possible before we start heading south. We still don't have anything like a firm time line, but we will not be renewing our lease, which runs out the first part of November. I doubt we will be allowed out of our lease given the high vacancy rate here, so we most likely won't be leaving significantly before that. But if someone in Florida makes the right offer, we'll be jumping and damn the lease.

The author of the Archdruid Report has been making reference to various "smoke plumes" around the world. Some are literal like the renewed ash cloud being pumped out of one of Iceland's smaller volcanoes. Some are metaphorical, like the recent gyrations on Wall Street, which may or may not be the result of human error, compounded (or not) by computerized trading. Nobody is really sure and the stock exchanges are arbitrarily canceling out trades. Butterfly Effect, anyone?  And then we have Greece where we see the perfect example of a metaphorical smoke plume turning into a literal one. Meanwhile, as Greece and the other PIIGS consume Europe's attention, we have the UK spiraling into the debt hole while their political system continues to break down.

Oh, in case anyone cares, Freddie Mac just slipped a little note to Congress asking for another $10 billion or so. Because our federal government has piles of cash layin' around just waiting for someone to need it, unlike all those silly, debt-ridden European countries.

America's funniest unintentional comedian, Al Sharpton, is spouting his usual line of Marxist nonsense. All I can say is, you first Al. There is nothing in this world stopping you from donating all your millions to whomever you like, and moving into a Detroit slum. Or are you more equal than the rest of your people?

A TSA worker was arrested after beating a coworker with a nightstick. It seems that after being subjected to one of those fancy new virtual strip-searches during a training exercise, he went a little nuts due to all the jokes about his dick size. Aside from the basic story once-again revealing that the full-body scanners are a public strip search (and a violation of not only the Constitution but basic human dignity), there are lots of juicy little tidbits. Like the fact that it was a supervisor that started the penis jokes. And that the TSA employs people who not only resort to beating someone with a nightstick to force them to get on their knees and apologize, but then simply show up to work the next day like nothing happened. These are the people who are keeping us safe from terrorists.

I'm sure everyone has seen the world's most horrifying Powerpoint slide by now. The linked article talks about the military's "obsession" with Powerpoint like they are the only ones who suffer from Powerpoint-itis. Anyone who has worked in any company with more than five employees knows it's far more wide-spread than that. General McMaster nails the real problem: “It’s dangerous because it can create the illusion of understanding and the illusion of control.” Listening Wall Street? Hello? (shrug)

I was hoping that all the typing would make me tired, but I guess I'm up for the day at 4:30am. Looks like I'm back on my no-sleep schedule. I thought being outside walking around all day would fix that, but after a few "normal" days, I'm back to five hours of sleep a night. On the bright side, I'll have loads of time to write long, rambling blog posts.