If only coffee came in IV form...

I am no longer a creature of the night. I am a creature of the day. I will continue to repeat this in my head as I try to stay awake.

I got a haircut, which was lovely. I can now see and do not have to pin my hair back with barrettes. It's very spiky, the hair on my head, which is probably due to the hair wax. I will not know what I truly look like until tomorrow or if I decide to take another shower. I'm avoiding this action because I just bought new soap that smells deliciously of lavender, but since lavender is a relaxing sleepy smell, I might just doze off in the shower and fall over.

Obviously more coffee is in order.

The plus side of spiky hair is that it does a very good job of hiding the grey hairs. There's now a plethora of them all over my head. Apparently I am going to go completely grey by 40. I'm rather bitter about this, I was hoping I wouldn't have any grey hairs until I had children, so I could blame them. Now I'm just going to have to tell them that it was their father that did this to me.

Yes, I speak of children in the plural. I am not necessarily planning on having children in the plural. But it sounds weird to talk of children in the singular. At some point there will be A child and at that time we will revisit the idea of more than one. Plans for a child are in their...er... infancy, so to speak. It's currently a very abstract notion because my life is suddenly very full of lots of different time sensitive goals.

I spent last night reading up on the global economy. It was WAY more exciting and interesting than I thought it would be. This didn't take much, I admit, because I was rather dreading what I thought was going to be a horrific trawl through supply and demand (much like my high school economics class, in which I learned that passive resistance only works if you have a majority and absolutely nothing about economics). I have read some Karl Marx, some Adam Smith, and some Karl Polanyi (want an economic theorist in the family, name your child Karl) in my research into Roman Economics and theories of emulation and distinction, so I wasn't a complete neophyte in the world of modern economic thought, but the term "zero-sum economics" does not come up ever in discussions of the Roman economy (most of the arguments and theories on Roman economics center around whether or not you think the Romans had a economy and if so, were they aware of it, and if so did they do things purposefully to make their economic position better) (the answers are, in my mind, yes, sort of, not really). Reading about currently global economic theory has actually shaped my thoughts on the Roman economy (yay for cross-pollination of ideas), I'd love to be able to go into it more in depth, but at the moment it's all a bunch of firing neurons and not a coherent argument. Maybe it'll end up in my dissertation or maybe it'll just kick around in my head for a while.

It's actually quite a lovely day today. The sun is out when it's not drizzling and the rain of last night washed the city from top to bottom (it was quite the rain). The streets are very clean except where I am because the garbage trucks came and picked up our trash but seem to have dropped quite a lot of it. It's also not that cold, considering that there are very few clouds today. It would be a perfect day to be out and about, except that I stupidly stepped funny yesterday while running up and back from the library. My ankle and foot are killing me. No swelling or discoloration, so I have no idea what I did, but I'm going to keep off of it as much as possible today.

"Maybe if you give them some petty cash they won't notice the recession!"

Well, I was wrong about the rates. But anyone who is still thinking that we aren't in a recession already is an idiot. Why do I keep seeing all these reports: are you ready for a recession, is a recession inevitable, will we end up in a recession? The answers are: no, because if we were ready, it wouldn't be a recession, would it? Yup. And we're already in a recession, dumba$$.

And would people stop blaming the various government parties for the recession? It was the bad loans that tipped us all in. There could have been more oversight, or the banks could have stopped giving money away so easily. It's like the dot-com crash, not government induced, idiot induced!

Meanwhile, I had the stomach flu, which was awful in all kinds of ways. The Danish boy was phenomenal, making up batches of re-hydration fluid, peeling apples and boiling up cups of beef bouillon - while still working +12 hour shifts driving the taxi at night.

We then had to shift from the night schedule we have been on to the day shift. This was very painful, as I'm getting over the flu, I have a hard time determining when I'm going to sleep and when I'm not. However, it looks as if we may have succeeded. Alas, here I am at 7 am (I've been up for several hours now) and the sun hasn't risen, the wind may blow down the house and the day is not looking so hot. The weather here has been atrocious. Wind wind and more wind. No snow. Two winters ago we got blanketed and I don't remember so much wind. I guess global warming has robbed me of my snowy winter, this weather feels more like California in February than what one expects from northern Europe. However, it is getting noticeably lighter earlier and staying light for later. This is wonderful. Now if we only would have less cloud cover and less wind, people may actually have a chance at getting some vitamin D.

The dissertation continues and we aren't going to talk about it any more. Because we hates it. It is not precious.

The wedding plans also continue... at a snails pace. There are some rather large financial concerns that must be squared away before we proceed. At this point I am in no hurry. It's not going to be a fancy affair, there will be no frills or favors, and I will probably wear a nice sun dress and flip-flops, so the amazing pressure that normally surrounds a wedding is lacking. Etiquette is out the window - it's not so much a wedding as a casual party. Thankfully!

And on a completely random note - why do none of my cookbooks include a PLAIN oatmeal cookie recipe? I hate dates (unless they are stuffed with cheese and baked) and I don't have chocolate chips. Yes, I am sure somewhere in this god-forsaken country there are chocolate chips, but seeing how it's taken me five years to find the one store that sometimes sells ricotta cheese, I may never find chocolate chips. I also don't want to put all kinds of spices into them. I just want some nice, plain, oatmeal cookies. Is it so much to ask?

Some predictions based on nothing more than my gut...

Some official gut based predictions. Because although I told a friend just a day or two ago that the markets were going to take a dive, I doubt anyone else believes me. It's really hard to say "i told you so" if you have no proof. Thus I am making some predictions. And if I'm wrong then I get to write about how surprised I was and what went wrong. My god, if everything I predict is wrong - I could get a job at CNN! If I can think of someone to blame, indicating that I wasn't wrong, but misinformed and possibly manipulated in some way, I could work for FOX!

Prediction #1: I think interest rates will rise (so that banks will be able a quicker return from lenders and will feel more confident about lending - fewer people can afford the higher interest rates and so only those who have stable incomes will be able to get loans).

Prediction #2: McCain will win the primarys and choose Romney as his running mate.

Prediction #3: Hillary will get the nom, but she will NOT pick Obama to be her running mate, or Edwards, but maybe Bill Richardson.

An amazingly long rant on politics and economy... my apologies

I am sick and tired of listening to the surprised media. It seems the major news being reported always comes as a shock to everyone from the journalists to the people they’re interviewing.

The biggest surprise - on on-going surprise - is the primary season. No matter who won what, the results of the vote seems to be this huge shock to everyone. “Whoa! Hillary won! Who’d a seen that coming?” “Whoa! Obama won! Who’d a seen that?” “My god, someone else won some other state in that other party! Whoa!”

My god, you would think that it never occurred to the press that SOMEONE would win. And the shock over the polls should stop, right now. Anyone remember, “Dewey wins”? Polls can be wrong. Gasp! News at 11!

It was funny the first time the talking heads on various news networks hashed out their surprise, but it’s gone on too long. The only reason people are surprised at the results is because they had pre-conceived notions and they were wrong. Perhaps, it is time to DROP the notions, people, you will discover INTEREST rather than SURPISE at the results of each new primary to be MUCH MORE USEFUL WHEN REPORTING THE NEWS.

Most annoying is the “oh-my-god-Hillary-is-winning-how-is-she-doing-this.” Um, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say, because more people have voted for her so far? Or maybe I’m just confused at how the voting process works. I would like the press to stop trying to figure out her campaign strategy - that’s Obama’s people’s job, and try reporting on the various platforms that the candidates are offering. Why is the media so surprised that more women voted for Hillary after she got misty-eyed (sorry, I’ve seen the footage, that is NOT crying)? That’s the only footage they ran for two days!! If I were on Obama’s team I’d be suing the stations for all that free air-time. And then the media has the audacity to say that people aren’t voting on the issues, but on personality. Gee, when was the last time they reported on the issues? Remember the CNN poll - 96% of the viewers wanted to see more reporting on the issues. Now that is a poll I would trust.

The second big surprise that I saw coming for miles away was the downturn of the economy. People on this side of the pond have had to listen to me tell them, the end is coming, but I was ignored. Typical. Just because a girl hates studying economics and still can’t quite figure out the Fed, they think she can’t predict recessions.

You might be about to see a recession if:
1) you find yourself ordering water instead of soda to drink with your meal.
2) the bank had promised you that you would have no problems getting a loan, but suddenly you are turned down with vague excuses.
3) the government tries to push emergency measures through that give loans or money away AGAINST the will of the banks.

Banks and truck drivers are probably the best indicators of the economy. But not in the way you may think. Banks are out to make money and will do their damnedest to make sure of it. Why do they have all those lovely fees? So when banks give out loans to anyone with a pulse, you know they are confident. When suddenly they stop, it’s because they’ve freaked out. Now they don’t want to part with their money. And since it is YOUR money, you should be afraid. It’s time to button down the hatches, folks. The banks have closed for business. The government, bless them, trying to make the banks give us money… it’s counterintuitive. Banks are telling us, it is time to keep your money, don’t spend. Meanwhile the government is saying, here have some money, spend it, it will help the economy. But does it really? You are going to spend it on heat, gas, and food (which is almost like spending it on gas). You are not going to invest it, you are not going to buy something very large with monthly payments attached (like you could get a loan at this point). What the government is hoping is to pretend to be the good guy, hey and maybe $600 will help you keep that McMansion (yeah, right), until the economy rights itself. To do that, the people who over extended themselves are going to be sacrificed. The mortgage companies and the banks are going to have to keep swallowing the bankruptcies until people are back to living within their means, and that also means, don’t expect to qualify for a loan anytime soon. The bank can’t afford the risk. And frankly, neither can you!

Truck drivers are very aware of the price of gas. Their livelihood depends on it. So as the cost of gas goes up, they become much more conservative with their cash. Go to a truck stop. See what they are eating. Is it just cups and cups of coffee, finished off by one donut? We’re screwed. A big plate of food, however, means gas prices are down. I wonder how prostitution is affected? Are men more likely or less likely to visit prostitutes during economic downspins? Hmmm.

Meanwhile, the rest of the world has been running around for the last few months on a false high. “Oh, the US dollar is down! Look at all the money we have!!” As if some how the economies of the world are not all connected. Sorry folks, we’ll be taking you down soon enough. Already I hear the stocks are dropping. No surprise I’m afraid. As Americans stop spending or lending, things are going to get less pretty everywhere else. Probably not so bad, because the first thing that happens is that banks stop lending. And that stops the bubble from getting any bigger. But if you have overextended yourself, now is NOT a good time for you.

And if you think I’m sitting around all smug like, I’m afraid to disillusion you, but things are not so good here. The home equity that we thought was going to cover the apartment bills is suddenly no longer available. Instead we had to use our savings and credit to pay the bills. So now, to pay for the wedding, it looks like we’ll have to sell the car. But this is the car that saves us money on gas, so without the car, we can’t live in the countryside. So we’ll probably have to move back into the apartment, with roommates. Which will actually raise the amount of equity that we can use for bills.