TNT Down for the Count

The Taplett household is under a sickness watch. The little man came home from daycare yesterday very sick. We came home and ate dinner—tuna fish, pickels and grapes with two Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies for dessert—and snuggled in for Curious George 2: Follow that Monkey (BTW, awesome movie). While laying on top of mommy, my son promptly puked the aforementioned dinner and dessert combo all over both of us. I'm sure you are asking yourself, why the heck is she telling me this?

From June 2009 to February 2010, Tucker and I were pretty much by ourselves, except when the next door neighbors came over or we went to preschool. Since I've been back to work and Tucker is back in daycare, we've been living in a giant petri dish. I sit in my cube and I hear people coughing up second and third lungs. I hear noses sniffling and being blown. Then I go to the restroom and I hear people leave without washing their hands. I mean WTF? Yes, mom, I said WTF. (side note: she called me a dirty word the other day, Liberal. That is a whole 'nother blog).

No wonder Tuck Tuck is sick. I mean come on, people. I never used to be a germ-a-phobe but after last year when Jeff was sick with a mysterious flesh-eating virus I've invested heavily in germ-fighting products like Purell or Clorox wipes. I actually get the oogie-boogies from shopping carts which are the dirtiest, yuckiest things on the planet. And don't get me started on things people forget to clean like the caps and pumps of the Purell bottles littering the office.

I harken back to a movie I saw when I was a kid (this one's for you, Toni), Creepshow. One of the episodes was called "They're Creeping Up On You!" and told the story of a man whose Mysophobia (look up the word of the day) has him living in a hermetically sealed apartment, but is helpless when he becomes overrun by cockroaches. Now I will spare you the gorey details—one of my favorite, all-time movie scene endings—but the point is, I can see myself holed up in a sealed house in the near future.

Point of the story, we are being overrun by germs and ookie things that are wreaking all kinds of havoc on our immune systems. Let's work together to keep the germies at bay, clean your carts, stay home from work and for goodness sake, wash your hands when you go to the bathroom.

What Economic Crisis?

We need this guy to help get the economy back on track. He's obviously doing something right.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2010/mar/03/yacht-island-why-hermes

Gas Prices Going Up...Economy Getting Bad, Again?

I drive a two-lane road to work every day with some of the worst drivers Woodinville has to offer--that may be its own post sometime. But on this two-lane road is an AM/PM gas station that has great, cheap gas and even with the 45 cent service fee is a great deal compared to its neighbor, Shell. I noticed that in the last week, gas prices rose by 20 cents. So I wondered what was going on.

I asked my husband, JeffyT, if he'd heard anything about it. Now, I often listen to him and make it through about 30 seconds and then is starts to sound like Charlie Brown's teacher. That is only because I married an incredibly smart man who likes mathematics and economics, most of which my right brain won't process. He was telling me that he's been reading in the Wall Street Journal about some Greek crisis that is causing the price of gas to go up. Again, I only listened for about 30 seconds and then zoned out.

So here is an article that helps explain what is going on.  It is a long one, but if you can get through it, it might help. I pulled an interesting excerpt which I put in below.

For the last two months the dollar with the help of insiders Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase and Citigroup, who knew the Greek problem was on the way, has had an unusual rally that is about to end. They obviously knew the IMF would announce another gold sale and that the Fed would raise the discount rate. How could they not know with Goldman controlling the Treasury and Morgan the Fed?They also knew like any other observant economic professional that M3 was being reduced to almost no expansion as was happening simultaneously by the ECB and England, an event that would tend to strengthen the dollar. Doing this they all are playing a very dangerous game. If they lose control deflation will overwhelm inflation and a deflationary depression could begin. That will happen eventually, but the elitists would like it to happen on their timetable. The US has to find a way to end monetization and they have run out of options. The only possibility is for government to steal Americans’ retirement plans. The trouble is almost all sovereign debt cannot be avoided. Now the only question is when will the big conference begin to revalue, and devalue currencies, settle debt default and form a new international currency-trading unit in part backed by gold? All nations have been well aware for a long time that sovereign debt and some corporate and individual debt will never be repaid. That is why nations have reduced dollar holdings from 64.5% of foreign reserves to 61.4%. With the exception of four nations sovereign debt is not worth the paper it is written on. They are Switzerland, Canada, Australia and Norway.

 

     



 

Senate Breaks Unemployment Log Jam

Woke up this morning to some good news. It looks like the Republicans were tired of Senator Bunning, the esteemed Senator from Kentucky (see earlier post) making an ass out of himself and the Republican party. Through some back alley negotiations, they allowed the Senator to save some face while keeping the 1.2 million people, who were close to losing benefits, happy.

Read this article from Reuters—http://tinyurl.com/yzsf4j8 .

One of my favorite lines from Senator Bunning, "I don't think I've spent this much time on the floor in any one week, period, in my life." Really, Senator? Really? Maybe that was the whole problem. If you'd bothered to spend more time on the floor working for your state, then maybe you wouldn't be such an ass now.

Missing Paula

As I sit here watching American Idol, I can't help but wonder where my sweet, daffy Paula Abdul went. I sure miss her erratic contestant feedback and berrating of Simon Cowell. At least Paula had the cajones to stand up to him when he was being a beast.

I love Ellen but I just don't think she brings anything to the show. Her show is terrific and her humor is terrific, when she is in her element. However, I don't think this is her element.

I just plain don't like Kara D. Oh FCOL (older people translation—for crying out loud), what's with the freakin' hair? and the gushing over Casey James? Yuck! Cougar? More like old mountain lion. I just can't stand that broad.

This season's crop of contestants have few bright spots. I know we are only into week 2 of performing and it takes a bit for them to settle in but man, there are some duds, mostly on the male side. Let's get them culled out and let the cream rise to the top. My two favs thus far are Lee DeWyze and Crystal Bowersox. Both have a little different vibe than what I would normally go for. So good luck guys!

Tales from the Tapletts

Will the Senator from Kentucky Please Explain?

What is the problem with Senator Jim Bunning, a Republican from Kentucky?? He has repeatedly blocked a 30-day extension of unemployment benefits. Now, more than 200,000 laid-off workers will lose their unemployment benefits.

As I read it, Senator Bunning's objection is because he doesn't want to add the $10 billion bill to the deficit. The Senator from Kentucky is the only hold out on this 30-day extension, which also includes funding for highway projects, improved Medicare reimbursement rates for doctors and other provisions. 

I've read a lot of divisiveness on this issue. You either think this guy is a hero or cantankerous old goat. I am not sure what to think so I wrote a letter to the office of Senator Bunning. In the automated response, I was told I would receive a reply in writing to my home address.

Wow! that was technology at its best. I copied Senator Patty Murray on the letter and got an email later that night that said she appreciated me copying her on the letter and that she "appreciated the opportunity to hear my views on UI".

In my letter to Senator Bunning, I explained that I was one of the many thousands of people being helped (saved) by unemployment benefits and wanted to understand why he was holding up the vote. If I ever get my letter, I will update this post.

For now, here are a couple of interesting links on the issue. Let me know if you have any thoughts.

Huffington Post

NPR

CBS

Google News


Tales from the Tapletts!

Pain in the Craigslist

When I was laid off last year, I had the time to start doing projects that needed to be done. This included downsizing the garage. I started by posting a few things on Craigslist. This proved pretty successful. I was, however, surprised at the number of people that would drive more than 20 miles for an electric toothbrush.

At the height, I had more than 100 items listed, a lot of small things and some bigger ones. As my postings increased, I started to notice a trend. Right after posting things up, I would get a response from someone, usually all in lower case letters asking if the item was still available. I would reply and, almost instantly, recieve an automated reply that said something about how they used to sell things on Craigslist but it wasn't safe to do it anymore and how they now make extra money. They send you to a link called googleandmoney.com. The server for googleandmoney is in Nassau, Bahamas. In case you didn't know, this is a scam.

A lot of these auto-responses come from Yahoo but you will see them from a variety of places depending on where you live in the country. Google is aware of them and has taken action in the past - http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/fighting-fraud-online-taking-google.html

But it really is a nuisance to wade through some of these but they are mostly harmless if you don't click on the link within the email, or God forbid, sign up for the Google and money stuff.

Craigslist is a great way to sell things in your local area but you do need to stay safe - http://www.guidetocraigslist.com/staying_safe.html

Scams & Swindles: Phishing, Spoofing, ID Theft, Nigerian Advance Schemes Investment Frauds: How to Recognize And Avoid Rip-Offs In The Internet Age