Hey Sports Fans!!

I saw this today and it cracked me up, though it may be a little snarky:



Click on it to get a full size image of "September Madness"! Which bank or government entity to you think will go all the way?!

What a waste!!

That's my takeaway from today's political activities. A. Complete. Waste.

A waste of time.
A waste of tax dollars.
A waste of money.
A waste of energy.

I was watching the news tonight, and NBC's political director Chuck Todd was on with Brian Williams. His insight into today's vote really caught my attention. He said, that after some analysis on the vote, he had determined that ultimately, 1 factor indicated whether a lawmaker would vote FOR or AGAINST the bill: whether or not they were facing a hotly-contested battle for their seat in November.

If a lawmaker was pretty much a shoe-in for their seat in the fall, they voted FOR the bill.

If a lawmaker was being challenged strongly for their seat in the fall, they voted AGAINST the bill.

If that is the case, and honestly it seems rather likely to (cynical) me, then I cannot think of anything more cowardly.

But then came the finger pointing, and the blaming.

Pelosi blames Bush.
Republicans blame Pelosi.
Democrats call the Republicans whiners.
The phrase "babies sucking our thumbs" was used.

I am honestly starting to think that the 1st grade Sunday school class that we teach could have done a better job crafting legislation and voting on it.

Please, for the love of God and country, stop the whining and do your jobs!



Whew.

Ok, sorry for the rant. Sorry for the series of rants, actually. Hope you're still hanging in there.

Dog show

I took advantage of the late afternoon sun yesterday to do an impromptu photo shoot with the pups. Here's the outcome:

Passing the time

I was just lamenting to a friend that I was really behind the times this week. I haven't watched the full Tina Fey video from SNL wherein she imitates Sarah Palin.

And I'm sure that most of you have already tried out the Sarah Palin Baby Name Generator...but I hadn't tried it yet, so here's my amusement for the morning:

Had I been born to Sarah Palin, I would have been named:

Bang Walmart Palin - my full name, using my maiden last name

Mustache Warthog Palin - using my shortened maiden name

Knife Pile Palin - using my full married name

Icepick Motor Palin - using my shortened married name



All are very, very flattering, as you can tell.

Who would you be, as a Palin?

Some perspective...

I know, I know - 2 posts in 1 day!

You're probably wondering how you could be so lucky as to stubmle upon 2 posts in one day here at chynmburli.

Well, sometimes it's better not to question such blessings.

So I'm still rather troubled by the many strange happenings in the market. I read an article today about the top 10 US bankruptcies in history, and to drive the point home (and given my on-going love affair with all things Excel), I created this nifty chart. (Click on it to make it bigger...this is the best that Blogger could do)



Ta da! Some perspective on what happened over the last 3 days.

These are billions of dollars.

And that freaking huge spike on the right? That's from Monday. Of this week. Like 2 days ago. The teeny blip on the far left? That's from 1987.

Here the article that I got the data from, if you're at all curious.

I read it, I said it, I stole your momma's credit

Anyone guess the movie?




And we're moving on:

Disclaimer: I'm feeling a little preachy this morning. If you don't want to read a rant about our current financial times, I suggest you just skip this one.

I read the Clark Howard piece that I linked to yesterday, and would encourage you to do the same if you want a dumbed-down, super-brief summary of what happened over the last few months.

I want to call attention to one of the minor points that is made in the story (and the one following it as well): this is not a "Bush" problem.

With all the flurry of various political campaigns going on day in and day out, both candidates were quick on the draw, blaming this party and that. Obama still seems to be on his "don't vote for 4 more years of Bush - they got us in this jam" mantra, but do not be fooled.

It takes years for financial policies, passed by our local, state and national government, to take affect. To blame the current state of Wall Street and the real estate market on any 1 term in office is not only unfair, it's wrong.

Now, I know in the past I haven't gotten too far into the political debate. But it's hitting our wallets now, and it's getting a bit personal. The government has either loaned, or made available, upwards of $280 billion dollars. And where they getting the cash? Mostly, from you. And me. And the rest of the American people.

Do I think the government should bailout these companies? It's a toss-up, simply because on one hand, the companies shouldn't have gotten themselves into this pickle in the first place. On the other hand, the companies are now so big that having them go down in flames would probably cause a HUGE wave of financial turbulence across the globe. It's a no win situation.

Indymac
Washington Mutual
Freddie
Fanny
AIG
Bear Stearns
Merrill Lynch
HBOS
Lehman Brothers

Who is next?

Money matters

I know there is a post somewhere, still forming itself in my brain, regarding the complete chaos that is the US economy over the last year or so.

However, I'm coming down with a little writer's block today, so for now, I leave you with these primers:

1) Fairly bland (i.e. it's not blaming one side or the other too terribly) summary of the most recent happenings from CNN: link

2) Just for some book learning, a refresher on what is actually meant by "subprime lending" and all of its sordid past: link

3) And just for a sanity check, please visit Clark Howard. For you AM radio listeners, hopefully you're already familiar with him. If you're not, you need to be. He has an article as well about the latest happenings, but I haven't read it yet: link, meltdown article link

Enjoy!

Looking ahead

I've never been really good at setting goals. I just am not geared for strategic thinking. Give me something tactical, and I'll dive right in and knock it out (most likely). However, I have recently been doing some corporate strategy thinking (more out of frustration than curiosity), and that's why when Amar suggested I read this book, I tore through it.



It's by a pretty well-known business author, Patrick Lencioni. Some of you in corporate America might be familiar with his other titles. Given that my past reading track record was pretty pathetic, I had heard of him, but never read any of his books. Today? I'm 2/3 of the way through my second of his set.

Anyhow, back to the yellow book.

It's basically about how to manage your family so that 1) you're not all running around like crazy people and 2) you're actually making progress towards meaningful goals that align with the unique values that make up your family.

It is not boring. I know you think it will be, but it is not. Even if you hate goals/milestones/objectives/etc., you should read it. I want to get it for people for Christmas. Seriously.

Amar and I both read it over the last week, and last night we sat down at a local coffee shop and planned out the next 2 months for our family: we outlined what made us, as a family, unique; we settled on a 'rallying cry' which is basically the highest-priority item for us over the next 2 months; we setup certain structure around how we're going to achieve that goal.

And it was great.

Seriously, I really think you should read this book.

Single? Read it.
Married? Read it.
4 kids under the age of 5? Read it.

We came up with values and a plan without too much debate (I know, this is a shocker for some of you to imagine us NOT debating!), and I'm genuinely excited about it. I'm excited about doing it again in 2 months, once we're past this initial goal. We already know what our next 2 will be.

So that's my endorsement for the week. If you do happen to pick it up and put it to use, let me know! We'll gladly welcome you to the bandwagon with us!

Mammoth Lakes: Pictures

Folks, here is a link to our pictures from our anniversary trip to Mammoth Lakes, California. Enjoy!

Pictures

Note: the first few pictures are either me goofing around or at a friend's wedding...I just haven't separated the albums yet.