• Have money, will spend.

    I am faced with a serious dilemma. I was given some cold, hard cash for my birthday. As dilemmas go, this one doesn’t sound too bad so far. It’s not getting money that is so bad, but deciding what to do with it. I am torn between prudent, responsible choices and … well … not so prudent or responsible choices. On the one hand we have necessary items. Clothing, debt relief, covering upcoming fixed hobby costs; these are all good, solid choices. But getting fired up about depositing a check into your loan account is about as exciting as seeing a box you are sure is a really neat toy on Christmas morning, only to find that it is a multi-pack of multi-colored Fruit of the Looms. Visions of iPods, DVD box sets and various software titles dance enticingly through my thoughts. Worries about loan balances and cash flow plague my conscience.

    For now I think I’ll let the money accumulate interest.

  • More holes that I needed.

    You are hanging a shelf in your daughter’s room. There are holes on the back side of the shelf that mount on screws in the wall. You carefully measure the distance between the center of each hole. You recheck your measurements a second and third time, just to make sure. You mark the spots on the wall where holes need to be drilled with your trusty level and ruler. You drill the holes in the wall and insert the mounting screws. You pick up the shelf and mount it on the screws – only you can’t because the screws don’t match the holes. You survey your surroundings to see which object in the room would be best for practicing a ritual killing on your wall. Seeing that driving a screwdriver through the wall will not improve the situation, your mind downshifts into damage control. You decide that you could drill more holes a safe distance from the old holes, and still cover up the old holes with the shelf. Having tried and erred, you decide to try something else. It turns out that something else works.

    There is no feeling in the world like turning a ten minute project into a one hour project.

  • News fatigue, part 2.

    Does anyone know what is going on in the world today? I’ve taken a bit of a sabbatical from news reading in the last month or so. Gone are the days when I could participate in an informed discussion on current events. The last I heard our country was having trouble keeping the peace in Iraq; a recall election mess was brewing in California; Democrats were fleeing Texas to avoid a vote on reapportionment; and, presidential hopefuls were already campaigning in New Hampshire and Iowa for NEXT YEAR’S primary elections.

    So what’s new? Did I miss anything?