Ok, I’m gonna make a bold prediction about who’s going to win American Idol this year. I predict it will be Casey Carlson. This girl is not only drop dead gorgeous but she can sing too. I’ve got a link to her Fanclub Website over in the sidebar.
Sunday January 18, 2009
Sunday January 4, 2009
My first apple pie
I’m making a simple apple pie. This will be my first ever. If it’s pretty when it’s done I’ll post a picture.
Ok, it’s kinda pretty. Here’s a picture of it.
Saturday December 20, 2008
Retired
I am now officially retired. That doesn’t mean I’m done working but it does mean I’m taking some time off.
It felt really strange coming home yesterday knowing I don’t have a job. I would be very scared if I didn’t have 2 things going for me. One, I’ve got a really good pension from Hughes/Boeing. Two, I’ve got a pretty good skill from those 21 1/2 years at Hughes/Boeing so I will be able to work again in a few months.
I’m taking off at the very least 2 or 3 months and the most 5 or 6. I’ll probably get bored soon but I do have some stuff to keep me busy around here. I’ve got a bathroom that needs to be painted and have a new floor and I’ve got a workbench in my garage that I haven’t seen in years.
I also think I will take my wife to Hawaii in a few months. We would like to see it before we aren’t able to.
Monday November 24, 2008
Recession? Depression? Which?
Ok, so as I understand it one of the factors that tells you if you’re in a Recession or Depression is the unemployment rate. Since I’ve been hearing all these people crying about how we are headed for a Depression I decided I would check the unemployment rate over the years. I can only find data back to 1948 but it’s interesting even just that far.
In 1948 the rate was around 4%. That would be considered pretty low. Over the years it’s gone up and down but the most interesting to me is when Reagan took over in 1981 the rate was 7.5%. Over the next year it went up to 10.8% by the end of 82 but then it started coming down. By the end of Reagan’s 2nd term is was 5.3%. Then Bush 1 took over and the rate slowly went up to about 7.8%. It started falling just before Clinton took over and kept falling all the way to 3.9%.
When Bush 2 took over the rate slowly went up to a little over 6% but then it came down to around 4% and then started climbing to the 6.5% it is at now.
The interesting part of this is the rate has been much higher several times in the years from 48 to now but this is the first time I can remember people thinking we are ready to enter another Depression. I understand saying we are in a Depression is not just the unemployment rate, it’s also the GDP and a few other factors but those factors are far from where they would need to be to call it that.
I think some of this is Bush Derangement Syndrome. People want it to be bad so they can point at him and say SEE?
Yes the banks are in trouble but maybe we shouldn’t bail them out. Maybe we should just let them fail and let the chips fall where they may. We might find out this country is a lot stronger than some people think. Since it’s not up to me I guess we will never know.
Saturday November 15, 2008
Smoke again
I woke up this morning around 5AM to get ready to go to the NHRA Finals in Pomona. The first thing I noticed was a strong smell of smoke. I knew this couldn’t be the Montecito fires because that’s all the way up by Santa Barbara. I turned on the TV and found there was a big fire going on in Sylmar. This is not too far from me but it’s very close to the Wideners. Here’s the Google Map of it.
Friday September 26, 2008
That’s $700 billion with a “b”
I’m certainly no financial expert but I have a pretty good idea taking $700 billion from taxpayers is going to hurt our descendants in the future. Maybe it’s time to just tough it out. So we can’t borrow for a few years. Maybe that’s a good thing.
I really don’t know but I do know $700 billion is a LOT of money.
Saturday September 13, 2008
Jenny’s New Car
Jenny got a new car last week. She’s been driving one of ours ever since her last car, our old Ford Contour, seized up. The new one is a Suzuki SX4 Sport. It’s quite nice.
