Swirling around in my head...

In the past whenever I've blogged remotely, it's always been from the coney island restaurant, usually during or after one of their scrumptious veggie omelettes w/extra onions. This is a remote blog post, but I'm not at the coney island. I'm at Panera. (Come to think of it, I have posted from here before.) I think I might make Panera my new favorite out-of-the-house wi-fi spot, because I've discovered they have outlets to plug my laptop into. I've glanced around for some at the coney island and haven't seen any. My laptop is getting to an age where the battery just doesn't have the juice it used to.

Anyway, I'm so content right now. I don't have to worry about my laptop's battery life. I've got my iPod on shuffle as it charges. I have a bottomless cup of coffee beside me...I'm on refill #2. The only thing I would change is to make it just a hair warmer in here right now. I haven't eaten anything yet today, and I'm trying to decide what kind of soup I'm going to order...broccoli cheddar, or cream of chicken & wild rice?

As you know, I'm a proud native of Midland, TX, and I follow a handful of blogs that originate from the area. Check out what I just found over on Jimmy Patterson's blog for today. That's at the Midland International Airport. That's pretty damn cool.

As you might've guessed, the IX took the boys this weekend. How else could I be relaxing at Panera with my laptop? Wouldn't happen if the boys were with me. So I find myself in that position of trying to figure out what to do with myself for the weekend. There's always stuff to clean, that's for sure. My options in this category are:

• finally get my bedroom cleaned out
• sweep & mop the kitchen & dining room floors
• mow the weeds
• work on my front room/office to make it functional
• clean my bathroom (actually, bump that to the top of the list. It's NASTY.)
• reconcile my checking account on my Quicken and pay a couple of bills

Let's see if I actually suck it up and do any of those things.

The Longhorns are in action tonight in Colorado, and since it's on FSN, I'm rather confident I'll get to see it. I slept in until after 11:00 this morning, and it felt so good. Got up, jumped in the shower, and even put on makeup today. I'm figuring out that I'm more motivated to accomplish other tasks if I clean up and make myself presentable. Let's see if it works out. At least I'm out of the house right now...that's progress.

I'm quite proud of my last post. One of my better ones, I think. However I had forgotten that I spoke of 'thangs' just a few days before. I'm losing my mind, I think! Whatever...I'm still proud of that last post.

When following high-profile crime stories, I'm extremely slow to pass judgement. I have no direct knowledge of what actually happened; thus, I don't feel like I have any right to label the accused as guilty or not. However, there are two stories in the news right now which I am finding myself with my own opinion and speculation of guilt and innocence.

My judgement of guilt goes to: O.J. Whether or not he actually did this crime he was just convicted of, I'm glad to learn he's going to jail anyway. I truly think he got off scot-free from murdering his ex-wife fourteen years ago, and it's nice to see that now maybe he'll pay the price for his actions...however recent or long ago they were. Throw the book at him. Let him rot in there. Since the death of his wife and her friend, he has behaved in ways that have proven to me that he's got nothing good to contribute to this world.

And my judgement of innocence goes to: Helio Castroneves. It came as a huge shock to me to learn of his indictment for tax evasion. I feel like I've known him for years, and would never, ever imagine he would or could do anything like this. To read of him in handcuffs and leg shackles?!?!?! weeping in the courtroom breaks my heart. It really does. Of course, he'll be given the chance to plead his case before the court, and hopefully the real truth will come out, whatever it is. But oh, I will feel so hurt and betrayed if it turns out he really did what he's being accused of. Whatever the verdict, his life will be forever changed by this, perhaps unfairly. I'll still be a fan of his until then, and hopefully beyond.

I guess that's about it for now. I ultimately decided on the broccoli cheddar soup since they didn't the cream of chicken today. I've been sitting here for more than two hours, and my butt's getting numb. I hope everyone out there has a wonderful first Saturday of October...

"The Badgers are Coming!" ...and other random thoughts in my head

Today I was at work wasting time when I came across this article from the Washington Post via MSNBC.com. Now when it comes to economics, I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed. My extent of formal learnin' in economics was one semester in high school eons ago with a chain-smoking teacher who could barely make it through class without a cigarette. (Cool class, though. I actually enjoyed it.) And while I don't have the expertise that Steven Pearlstein did to bring the entire global economy into it, what I wrote last night was pretty darn close to what he had to say on the subject. I felt smart. I felt validated. Made me feel pretty darn good.

And then after that, I check out Lone Chatelaine's post for today, where she actually linked to me. That probably made me feel even better. Thanks, dear.

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Now for the section entitled, "What the Hell Have I Gotten Myself Into?"

SH forwarded me an email today (which is the first communication I've gotten from her since before her baby was born in early June...more on that later) saying that the University of Wisconsin marching band is coming to town next weekend when the football team plays UM, and that they're doing an exhibition show at the local high school's football game the night before. They need local residents to open up their homes to them for Friday night and get them to and from the football field.

Yup. I volunteered my home. I requested two guys, who perhaps might make an impression on the RK, given his recent decision. The RK and I have talked about it, and we've made plans to head to the football game that night to watch the band perform. Yeehaw!

I'm gonna have to get the RK to CLEAN. THE. LOFT. I hope the guys are cool with the pull-out bed in the couch up there. Aw heck...they're college kids. They don't care. And I'm gonna have to do a helluva lot of cleaning myself! Nothing like something like this to motivate me, huh?

That concludes this edition of "What the Hell Have I Gotten Myself Into?" Stay tuned for future editions...here's hoping for many more to come!

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I'm going to a concert Sunday night. I'm normally not a big concert-goer; however as I've aged, I'm finding myself wanting to go hear more live music than in the past. I've never liked the idea of spending so much money on concert tickets, but now I'm starting to see the value in the experience.

Anyway, a few years ago, I was turned on to a very soulful singer from Louisiana by the name of Marc Broussard. His most popular cut, Home, never gets old. Go listen to it. Go on. And I dare you to not start tapping your toe at the very least. And what blows me away is he's a 20-something white guy! With that voice? Really?

My second favorite cut off his second album, Carencro, is The Wanderer. I love the lyric,

"And if you would accept me for me/
Then I promise you that there's a better man inside of me"

I just bought his latest album to drop, entitled Keep Coming Back. Initially I'm not as thrilled with it as I thought it would be. I think it's just my own lofty expectations, and I'm sure that as time goes on, it'll find me.

He's definitely one of those artists who is much better in a live setting than in a studio, and I'm just so excited I can't stand it! It's about time I did something for me. The boys are going with their dad this weekend, and I made arrangements with him for them to stay Sunday night as well, and he's going to take the RK to school and drop the IB off at the babysitter's Monday morning. Rawk.

That's it for me tonight. My next post will be, "Chapter Two: Potential Unrealized."

I know you all just can't wait.

Oh no, here she goes...

I have so much to be thankful for. I happened upon a statistic today that was quite disturbing. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the July 2008 unemployment rate in the state of Michigan was 8.5%. That's 51st out of 51. The unemployment rate for Texas was 4.7%, which, shockingly, ranks 20th. I would've thought it would be much closer to the top. South Dakota has the top spot with a rate of 3.0%.

I also found a chart with historical highs and lows for each state. For the historically highest unemployment rate, Michigan once again takes the prize, with the shocking number of 16.9% back in November 1982. WOW. I'm glad I wasn't around here then. I've heard stories that there used to be a sign on the interstate heading out of Flint that said something like, "Would the last one out please turn out the lights."

I've also been keeping up with the rather contrary state of existence in my much-beloved and much-missed hometown of Midland, TX. According to the July 2008 Unemployment Rates for Metropolitan Areas, Midland ranks 11th in the nation with a rate of 3.1%, and Odessa is 20th with 3.7%. Ann Arbor, in comparison, is 272nd in the nation at 6.9%, which is higher than the national average of 6.1%.

Oh, how thankful I am for my job! Because of my own little microcosm of turmoil and upheaval, I was forced right out into the biggest economic turmoil and upheaval in the nation, with no degree and no recent job experience to speak of. But God took care of me. My job certainly isn't glamorous, and I certainly don't get paid very much, but it's still a good deal more than min. wage. My house isn't in foreclosure. My babies' bellies are nice and full as they sleep in their warm little cozy beds. My debt, while more than I care for it to be, is not beyond hope, and is not substantially growing. My budget to keep my tank full of gas is nominal (relatively speaking), since I have all of a four-mile round-trip commute.

God takes care of us everyday.

Watching the news these last couple of days has definitely started the wheels turning in my head. These giant financial brokers on the brink of disaster is quite....umm....interesting. As is the decision of the fed to bail them out. Gah. How did this happen?

Before I delve into that, I'm going to tell you a story.

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Once upon a time, a long, long, long, long...OK, it was March of 1973...a little baby girl was born. Blonde hair, blue eyes, and the apple of her parents' eyes. She had no idea of the prosperity that blessed the region into which she was born known as the Permian Basin. Oil was spewing out the bland, dry, mesquite-covered land like fountains on the Las Vegas strip . And money was spewing out of banks and savings & loans. Her father was right in the middle. Life was good. Great. The bubble was growing.

And then one day, the bubble popped. The little girl was now about 10 or so. The fountains ran dry. Once-sparkly, busy, prosperous office buildings that defined the city's skyline, were left to the elements. Even the legendary cornerstone of the local economy, The First National Bank of Midland, went belly-up. Her parents worked really hard to shelter her from any hardship that might be coming her way, but she still knew enough to understand that things were going to change when she overheard her father utter the word "bankruptcy" to her mother. Her father made a change in direction for his career, and as she entered into teenage-dom, she wasn't able to have all the cool designer fashions as the other kids at school...Guess? and Z Cavaricci jeans, five Swatches each complete with SwatchGuards on her arm. She didn't get a car for her 16th birthday and was forced to share her mother's hopelessly un-cool 1978 Oldsmobile which was so monstrous, it barely fit in the garage. She didn't know it at the time, but her mother's plans for her be a Symphony Debutante were nixed.

While nothing was being handed to her on a silver platter, she was a happy girl. She was actively involved in her high school's marching band, experiencing thrilling things such as traveling to our nation's capital to march for our new President. She got to spend three years at The Greatest University in the nation, The University of Texas, until once again, these financial pressures brought it to an end.

Today, she is a well-rounded, responsible woman with children of her own, who has been blessed with a unique and useful perspective of feast vs. famine. She has gained much wisdom through these experiences. She has learned how not to live beyond her means. She has learned how to find happiness in other places than Stuff. And she is so thankful that while she is in the midst of another terrible and destructive economic recession, she has enough for the time being. And she is at peace.

The End.

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Back to the collapse of the country's financial giants: Just how did it happen?

My theory: Sub-prime mortgages and other frivolous lending tactics. This country is driven to have Stuff, whether or not we can afford it. And when things are going good, the banks and financial brokers will dole out money to people, who at the time don't have any adequate means to pay it back. They all just assume things will keep heading in the same direction, and it'll just fall in their laps. Then when that doesn't happen...

How in the world did this society get to a place where it became totally acceptable to borrow so much dang money? What ever happened to cash on the barrelhead? Yes, I have a mortgage. And no, I would not have this beautiful house without being able to borrow the money to purchase it. At the time I purchased this house with the IX, I was fully planning on living in it with him, and not having to pay for it on my own. It's not a big fancy über-luxurious place. My neighbors are almost right on top of me. It's covered in...ack...siding. And it pretty much looks just like every other house in the neighborhood. We probably could've been approved for one of the sub-prime mortgages for a much grander dwelling, but we didn't even go down that road. We got a standard, 30-year fixed mortgage. We purchased what at the time, we could afford. And now it just so happens that I find myself facing a lot of hard work to keep it that way.

Anyway...we are a nation of borrowers. We don't like the concept of delayed gratification. And look at where it has gotten us. AGAIN.

I want a deck on the back of my house sooooo bad. But I'm not going to borrow to get it. I haven't bought a stitch of new clothing since I started going on job interviews. (And boy, do I need some new clothes. I dropped four sizes during my divorce and just about everything in my closet would either fall right off of me or swallow me up.) My boys don't have tons of clothes, and what they do have, are hand-me-downs, came from a resale shop, Target, or Meijer. I can't remember the last time I set foot in the mall.

I have no intention of becoming one of the casualties, and I'm thankful that my life experiences have led me to understand a little bit about how it happens. I'm not afraid to buckle down and do what it takes to maintain my 'meager' (by some standards) way of life, all the while thinking I could just about be the richest woman on the planet. Oh, I've got big plans for the future, don't get me wrong. And no, I don't know exactly how I'm going to bring them to fruition.

But let me put it this way...I know how I'm not going to do it.

Papa Gundy

OK. So I'm sitting here surfing the web with ESPN's "College Gameday" on in the background. And they air a segment on this:


This is Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy...ahem...addressing this article written in The Oklahoman last weekend. Now I'm not going to get into the particulars of the article itself, or if Ms. Carlson was over the line in writing it, but I feel compelled to comment on Coach Gundy's response.

Right. On.

This is what a college football coach should be. And he is absolutely right that the athlete in question, QB Bobby Reid, is indeed an amateur. Reid's not getting paid to play, he's playing because he loves the game. And I admire Coach Gundy for sticking up for his player like this and trying to protect him.

No matter how old you are, or how much you're getting paid to play a professional sport, it's never easy to read such negative press directed at you. Sure, you can grow a thicker skin, laugh it off, whatever...but deep down it still stings even the most seasoned athletic veteran. And I think that sometimes the media do get a little big for their britches when it comes to covering college sports.

Bravo, Coach Gundy. I know it was a difficult decision to bench Reid. And I know he's gotta feeling pretty low about it. And to have such hurtful things said about him in the newspaper couldn't have helped any, and I appreciate your desire to be more than a coach to your players.

I think what I like the most about this so-called 'tirade' is the fact that not once did it have to be censored.

And now Gundy's taking quite a hit in the press over his response. Bah! I say. It SO doesn't matter. And I hope that his coach/player relationship with Bobby Reid has been solidified after this...heck...with all his players. No matter what his win/loss record is throughout his years as a coach, he is indeed a gem to college football.