Column A Total Must Equal Column B Total--A "Duh" Concept

After agreeing with everything in this Newsweek column last week, I was moved to sign and add my comments to a MoveOn petition yesterday. It seems that our Congress is still planning to push through more tax cuts for the wealthy (which I think was a stupid idea even before the Gulf Coast devastation), and then--get this--plans to pay for it by cutting crucial social services which of course mostly benefit the poor.

I am a liberal except when it comes to finances. To me it seems painfully obvious that if you need to increase your expenses (Column A) you need to either increase your income (Column B) or cut down on non-essential expenses in column A. Food stamps and Medicaid are not optional expenses--they are the equivalent of emergency health care in my personal budget.

The MoveOn petition suggested I write my comments for our congressional leaders, so here is what I wrote:


Please, please do not support any more tax cuts for the wealthy. It's obvious that supply-side economics don't work, with more people in poverty every year since Bush has been in office.

If the government has a non-optional added expense (reconstructing the Gulf Coast), common sense says that reducing the government's income would be the worst idea possible. If you need to spend more money, you need to earn more. Seems like such a "duh" concept to me.

I don't particularly enjoy paying taxes (and we are one of those DINK couples who therefore pay higher taxes than those with children), but that is part of living in a society, so I don't complain.

We as moral human beings cannot just say to poor people, "Oh, too bad for you" when they don't have the fortunate circumstances and connections some of us are privileged to have. Cutting back safety net programs would just be inhumane. I don't know how you can live with yourself if you choose to do that.

Doesn't the wild fiscal irresponsiblity of this administration keep you up at night? It should. Just think of all those interest payments spiralling out of control, taking up a bigger and bigger chunk of the budget every year. Don't you care? At this rate, someday the entire country will suffer a storm surge of fiscal disaster when foreign countries currently investing in our treasury bonds decide it's not worth the risk. What is the government going to do, declare bankruptcy?

A Great, New (and Possibly Addictive) Tool

Here's a brilliant answer to the eternal question, "How can I (easily) be notified of updates on my favorite sites, at one convenient location?" Some of us (like Eric) post new entries on our blogs almost daily, while others of us (like yours truly) post maybe twice a week, maybe twice a month, maybe three days in a row.

I've discovered an amazing tool called Bloglines, where you can "subscribe" to any website that has regular updates, including blogs, for free, via the cutting-edge technology you may have vaguely heard of called "RSS Feeds." You know, the one that Newsweek magazine says only 10% of internet users know how to use. I am now one of the elite, and the Bloglines site has made it really easy.

I now subscribe to blogs by Darcy, Dad, Eric, and Rusty. So cool!

A Deluge of Work

When I was under-employed all summer, sometimes I felt bored. Now I feel pressured. Sometimes I'm not so sure which is worse.

Here's my weekend.

Sat, 11 am. Cindi's wedding out in Boondockland, Lake County. Running there from a 9 am class at Gladisa's, dragging 75-pound behemoth keyboard and lots of songbooks. Dressed up, probably in the rain. Have I practiced anything for this? No. But I already know a lot of the music I'm going to play, and I'm a good faker.

Sun, 9:30 am. UU Choir practice. This is one of the few things this weekend that's not stressing me out. It's just that it means no sleeping in.

Sun, 11 am. Play for church service. Since the topic is Joseph Campbell: The Power of Myth Revisited , Paul really wants to come. We've decided to play our version of Wagner's Liebestod, from Tristan and Isolde, that I learned for Darcy's wedding. When else would be a more appropriate time to play it?! Tristan is only one of the great myths Campbell explores in depth. We'll be playing two other short pieces, we already know as well. Yes, I do already know the music, but I still have to practice and then we have to go over them together.

Sun, 12:45 pm. Gospel Choir rehearsal. I'm supposed to have learned 2 new songs from a CD, including writing down the vocal notes since Andrew is bad with pitch. I've only done 1/3 of one of them. Well, if I'm behind for this one, no one will be mad. I meant to do it earlier in the week but I got sick with a bad cold for days and didn't feel up to it.

Sun, 4:00 pm. Windsong rehearsal. No, I haven't even looked at the music. I can probably get away with this one, too--I've certainly done it before.

I tallied up all the hours I'm actually working at my 6 (count 'em!) gigs, and its 35.5 hours a week. Doesn't sound like much, does it? Boy, am I glad it's not more. Could be worse, I guess. I could have a sugar hangover on top of everything else.

My Diet is Finally Ready to Become a Grownup

I always used to think that by age 40, I would have outgrown my candy habit, that I would be like other, more "normal" adults who say things like, "Oh, I think the peanut butter in Reese's Peanut Butter Cups is just too sweet." It didn't happen. I spent a lot of my copious free time over the summer (as well as the past several years) chowing down on my favorite candy while playing on the internet.

Well, I'm finally getting tired of the sugar hangovers and tired of feeling unfocused and lethargic even with buttloads of caffeine. I haven't had any candy since last Thursday (it's my 5th day), eating a bowl of non-health-foody cereal (Kix or Rice Chex) as a substitute. I'm actually less hungry and feel a lot more alert and even-keeled! My addiction must be totally psychological because I don't feel any withdrawal symptoms.

This doesn't mean I've become a candy teetotaler (let's be real here!). Nor does it mean I avoid dessert--I've had treats like sorbet, homemade banana bread or a can of (non-diet) coke, once or twice a day. I am never going to be a health food puritan/fundamentalist or Woman on a Diet--you know, the type who "feels guilty" after eating a Sinful Food. Screw that! Life's too short.

I'm going to embrace the philosophy of moderation. So far it hasn't been hard. Today when I picked up some things at Target, I window-shopped the 3(!) aisles of Halloween candy, decided none of it was really worth it, and left without buying any. This is big for me--I haven't passed the Halloween candy department empty-handed for at least 10 years.

Labor Day Weekend

We've had one of those weekends where everything lines up just right. Paul and I had all three days totally off work. The weather was perfect every single day, brilliantly sunny and in the 70s. And we had fun plans every day. We started our Saturday sleeping late and indulging in a leisurely breakfast of blueberry pancakes.

We had all the windows open because the weather was so perfect. Mouchie wanted to get as close to outside as possible, so he sat in the window. As you can see, the sill is skinnier than he is, so he oh-so-casually let his arm dangle off the edge.

Such a funny boy! Here he is from above. You can see all the beautiful shades of black in his coat, plus my blue-polished toenails on the floor far, far away.

Saturday night, we went to the last concert of the season at Blossom Music Center. It was the Cincinnati Pops' Star Wars Spectacular. Anthony Daniels, who played C-3PO in all six movies, narrated basic plot points between excerpts from all the movies. We noticed John Williams gives especially kick-ass parts to the horn section. Here is a pic of the Pavillion from the lawn, where we sat having our picnic.

I held the camera at arm's length to snap this one of us at intermission.

On Sunday (yesterday), we went with Bev, Fred and little Bruce to the Cleveland Ingenuity Festival, a downtown fest full of events combining the arts and technology. Brucie was a little young for most of it but enjoyed the bubble machine, live music and baby owl. He is at that age where he doesn't want to be strapped in the stroller, but would rather walk and push it himself. When we had had enough of going .02 MPH, Bev and Fred gave him a little "lift," which he loved!

A highlight of the festival for me was seeing the Symphony for 21 iPods. In a basement art gallery, the iPods were hanging from the ceiling all over the room, playing a variety of bright, sparkly sounds in space, changing as you moved around beneath them.

On the way out of the gallery, I saw this striking sculpture of blown glass. It didn't have a title, so I christened it Condomcicles.

We went to the old Cleveland Trust Rotunda, since I had never been there and it looks pretty grand from the outside. They advertised hands-on technology activities all day, but I guess they decided to end it early since nothing was going on. Still enjoyed seeing the beautiful building, though. It used to be a bank. Imagine doing your banking in a place as grand as a museum or theatre! The stained-glass dome above was beautiful, and we could see why someone is always arguing against tearing it down.

By five or so, my feet were killing me. I feel like such a wimp and an old fart, but it's never been the same since I broke my foot last year. We went to Tower City for a breather and sat by the fountain, which has jets of water choreographed to music.

We took the Rapid and walked a mile to get home, since Bev & Co. had left a couple hours before. We feel so lucky to live close.

Today (Labor Day) we went to a Lake County Captains minor-league baseball game with Paul's work folks, courtesy of his boss, Dr. Hoppel. We had a loge, a big party deck with a nice spread--burger, hot dog, taco, and ice cream sundae bar, plus pop and water. The food was really good.

A lot of Paul's co-workers brought their kids and grandkids, who were able to run around, etc. It was very breezy up there--it felt like we were out on the lake. The stadium was much smaller than Jacobs Field--maybe it holds 15-20,000. It was nice, though, and had a small-town feel. The captains won in 12 innings, so I was able to keep my streak of the home team always winning at every pro game I've ever attended--all four in my life!

All in all, a great weekend. Tomorrow it's back to work at all of my jobs, which I am actually looking forward to.

Gasoline Market Timing

All week I have been following the Hurricane Katrina coverage on NPR, Salon.com and the New York Times. It took a day or two for the magnitude of the catastrophe to sink in. I feel terrible for all those people who have lost everything and haven't been sleeping that well.

Of course, by Monday night it occured to me that gas prices would probably jump any minute. I started back at Case this week, walking to work all 5 days.

1. It gets me moving
2. It makes me feel more connected to my neighborhood and aware of the beauty I would miss if I drove
3.It saves the wear and tear of short trips on the car
4. My Case parking pass probably hasn't been activated yet anyway and I hate paying for parking
5. And not least, it's one way I can conserve energy and live lighter on the planet.

On Monday, the BP station I walked past was selling regular unleaded at $2.55/gallon, at least a dime cheaper than any other station nearby. Since I didn't drive that day, I didn't fill up and gambled it wouldn't be too bad Tuesday. With relief, I saw on Tuesday that it was still $2.57. I ran errands that evening, stopping on the way to fill my 3/4 empty tank. I was surprised there was no line. I remember right after 9/11, cars were lined up around the corner at every gas station.

The next day as I walked by and gasped when I saw the display sign--it was up to $2.99!! I had beat the system, saving about $4.00. I know, my tank is only 11 gallons, my car gets over 30 mpg, and I only drive 6000-7000 miles per year. I used to spend about $30.00 a month on gas, now it might be $60.00. The $30 extra isn't such a big deal for me, but I can't help thinking about those moms from all over suburbia driving their kids to ballet class in their SUVs. I just hope they don't decide to pull their kids out as a way of cutting back. I'm feeling like the NE Ohio recession, which lingered here for years before finally starting to lift only recently, might come back with a vengeance.

On Tuesday afternoon I went online to reserve plane tickets for our Houston trip right after Christmas. I wanted Paul to have a chance to check our flight schedule with his brother Peter before we purchased. The next day Peter sent us his itinerary (times were different than ours) with the idea that we could share a rental car.

So back to the Continental website I went, (I had just signed us both up for OnePass, since Continental is the only airline out of Cleveland that hasn't screwed us over,) plugging in the new times and cancelling the old reservation. Ack! Everything was over $100 more per person than the day before, including the same flights from yesterday's reservation! I was kicking myself for cancelling it so fast, since otherwise I could have bought it at yesterday's price, saving us $220.

But then I thought, let's check Expedia and Travelocity--maybe they haven't jacked everything up yet. And they hadn't! I bought those suckers fast, saving the $220, then emailed our itinerary to Paul's family members, advising them to book their flights ASAP before the prices go up. It felt so good to beat the system twice in one day!

This was probably my last chance to save big on gasoline-related expenses. From now on, I am even more motivated to 1. Walk instead of drive whenever possible, 2. Consolidate errands as efficiently as possible, and 3. Drive in as fuel-efficient manner as I can--stopping and starting as slowly and smoothly as I can get away with. I want to see if it makes a difference.