You can't handle the truth

Reality should be setting in for Hayden's parents. Sunday morning Jill put Hayden in her chair for breakfast. The baby that never cries had a melt down. Bawling like I have never heard. Jill puts a plate in front of her with the result being breakfast everywhere. Only Becket with the food treasure hunt seemed to see the benefit of the new, bad Hayden. Jill was convinced it was an anomaly, "Oh, she must be teething" became the accepted explanation.

Then there was lunch Monday. The good Hayden was next to me in a booth at a local Plano establishment. But then it became time to put her in her chair, oops. Melt down. Tears running down her cheeks, she struggled with all her might to reach any object on the table so she could turn them into projectile, with some success. It only lasted about TEN MINUTES. Teething again? Nope, this time it was my fault for not putting her in the chair immediately.

A couple of blogs ago I wrote about an unpleasant experience loaning my Fit to Tyler. The response I got was "Gees, somebody sensitive about their car! Well, I printed out that blog so when Hayden grows up she can see how Bops was mean and said she was a boy. By the way, you got to stop making our baby cry!" Sounds a lot like an adult version of a melt down to me. I think she come by it honestly.

Oops Obama

Let’s get those rotten big banks! Obama appears for the first time to be making a key presidential decision based on politics rather than his normal, pragmatic reasoning. He decided to take on the hated big banks against the advice of his treasury secretary and primary economic consultant (Larry Summers). Let’s go after those evil doers that survived only at taxpayer’s expense. I reminds of my days at EDS when a big deal went bad. It had 5 stages: the signing, the celebration, reality setting in, the search for the guilty and finally, the punishment of the uninvolved.

Let’s look at where most of the TARP/bailout money went that we won’t get back:
• AIG – an insurance company
• Freddie and Fannie – Pseudo government mortgage lenders that targeted loaning to underserved.
• GM, Chrysler, GMAC – the auto industry

What businesses did the most to help the situation by merging in troubled/guilty companies: JP Morgan Chase (Bear Sterns, WAMU), Wells Fargo (Wachovia), Bank of America (Countrywide, Merrill Lynch)

What companies got TARP money that did not ask for it but the government insisted: JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs

Who is Obama going after: The companies that did good and those that got taxpayer money they didn’t even want.

Oops Obama, this will not serve you well.

Having a Fit

Shirley has not been able to drive while she recovers from her latest hip surgery. Knowing this, about two months ago, Tylir realized I had one more car than I could drive. He had an offer on his RX8 that he wanted to sell before it blew another engine now that it was out of warrantee. He asked to borrow my Fit for a week or so (the so turns out to be about 2 months). I was driving the Lexus since Shirley won’t ride in my Fit. Thus I had no problem with it, in fact encouraged him to keep it as long as needed.

Everyone knows I love my Fit. I proudly show all the awards it wins every year for being "best in class" from the auto magazines. Tylir even encouraged me by suggesting he was going to get a Fit. Who would have thought he would turn on me and send me an email titled “Common Honda Fit Problems”? It turns out he did a Google search and was able to find Fit criticism on the Internet. Dahhhh. But he couldn’t wait to share. Needless to say I had a Fit (sorry, I couldn’t resist). Who does he think he is criticizing a Fit and sharing with me? It’s not like I bring up all the bad things about Hayden to him. Things like “Hayden is a somewhat common first name for men (1179 out of 1220). That means it is a male name 97% of the time. Yeah, the truth hurts doesn’t it? So there!

Crats lose, crats lose

The democrats/Obama just lost what most of us would consider one of the safest democrat seats in the US Senate, Ted Kennedy's former seat. What happened? In Bill Clinton's famous words, "It's the economy, stupid." High unemployment and fat cat bailouts don't make for good politics. While I remain an Obama supporter, the move toward split government is a good thing ... and there seams to be a strong spending control message in there as well. Republicans and democrats may need to start working together again. Unfortunately I doubt they will address issues that really solve our problems. The biggest threat to the country is our economic strength. We cannot afford to pay more than the rest of the world ensure the free flow of oil from the middle east. Money spent for energy independence is better directed than money toward wars and defence. We are fighting 2 wars to protect our position in the Middle East. Europe, China and Japan have a much greater need for their oil but we pay the bill to protect it. If we got out of there, the terrorists wouldn't need to kill us.

Life is great ... but it can always be better

Eric came over at lunchtime yesterday to help me install DSL. He brought bathrobe clad Audrey with him. We all went into the study where Audrey sat in the soft, overstuffed chair, a pillow on one side and the big armrest on the other. She said she was hungry so I made her a melted cheese tortilla and brought her a Capri Sun. I looked at how comfortable she looked and it reminded me of my good friend Albert Ku.

Albert has a way of enjoying life. Back one day when Albert was single, he walked outside in his robe to get the mail, smoking a cigarette, drinking a beer and he pulled out of the mailbox a new issue of Playboy. He said, “Scott, life just doesn’t get any better than this.” On another occasion we were playing golf. Albert loves golf, I hate it … but he has managed to get me to play a few times. At about the third tee I hit a drive that reminded me why I hate the sport. I said a few cuss words and Albert looked at me and said “It is a beautiful day, we are on a golf course in Hawaii and it’s TUESDAY!”

I looked back at Audrey and said “Sweetheart, isn’t life good when at noon you are in your jammies and robe, sitting in a great chair, eating good food and drinking a Capri Sun?” She looked at me and said, “It would be better if I was watching a cartoon.” I shut up and turned on the Cartoon Network.

Perspective

The US dodged a bullet when the terrorist failed to ignite his bomb on that Delta flight over Detroit this past Christmas. Those on the flight and those close to them were certainly lucky. It would have a horrible, senseless tragedy. But we need to put it into perspective. There are many tragedies that kill more innocent people and cost more money; earthquakes, hurricanes, automobile accidents and revenge for the terrorist attacks. As bad as they are, none of these with the possible exception of revenge threaten our way of life. There are several threats out there that might:

• The financial debacle – we almost went over the edge with this one. We are not out of the woods yet with the high unemployment and foreclosures that still loom.

• Health care – whether or not you think the 40,000,000 without insurance should get healthcare, the continuing astronomical increases in costs will break us all. The only way out is for logical rationing of health care. It cannot happen as long as the lobbyists control Congress.

• Climate change – Shortages of water are expected to create well over 10,000,000 additional refugees in Africa alone over the next few years. The losers are going to go after the winners of this lottery. Watch out Canada.

• Population – The earth’s resources are fixed. It is limited on how many people and animals it can support. We are probably already beyond the earth’s ability with7 billion people, providing we want them to live in what we would consider a reasonable lifestyle.

Terrorism is awful but we need to put it in perspective.

Happy New Year

Happy New Decade as well. I'm optimistic. Its got to get better. Surely over spending, over warring and over eating has not really caught up with us. We're America after all. We're just better, more in touch than the rest of them.

I have my resolutions for the new year. I'm going to be smarter, better looking and younger this year. I was going to be taller as well but I didn't want to over extent and get disappointed. I'm going to do just these few things at a time and improve my chances for success.

My goal for the decade is to lose weight. I'm thinking of trying the "get fat" diet where I force myself to overeat to the point I no longer want to eat. I know it worked for me with lasagna. If it works I can write a book and get rich to the point where I can eat anything I want. I'll take my time in that I have ten years.