Yesterday, Mouse left the postman a Christmas card, with some people money in it, thanking him for all the biscuits, featuring one of her best photos:
Oh, sorry, that was yesterday after her walk and a short thaw. She has a condition that turns her into a Yeti:
And that was really a small crop. Here’s her poster-girl shot:
And that was the picture that went on the Christmas card for our postman, which reminded me of the two different ways people can approach a problem or interaction and how very different their futures often are, sometimes immediately.
We have received, well, first not received, and then received, mail, with the word ‘dog’ hastily scrawled across it [and once, oddly, ‘construction’, I might parenthetically add [and have, ed.]]. We have also had postal workers oddly afflicted with an inability to read numbers or street names, something one would have thought was a pre-requisite for the job. My mum once had her postman explain that he had finally realised there were two 28’s, one on her street and one on the street just north of us. Luckily there must not have been any other 28’s on his route. But he was surely special …
Now, however, we have a delightful postman who has some biscuits in his pocket. It is true that Mouse likes to live on the front porch, and bark at certain people. Sometimes it is a greeting bark, and though she is really far from scary, and is on a rope, I admit that means I might not get my mail, the way the world works and the rules are written, and it is my choice to make my dog happy, and not to receive my mail. But now I always get my mail, and the postman waves at me if there is parcel and I am in the living room, on my dratted couch of convalescence. Sometimes he even brings Mouse biscuits when we don’t have mail.
Because he decided to bring biscuits and tame the occasional dog he is bound to encounter on his route, he always gets the mail delivered, and now is a little bit richer, and knows that we appreciate his hard work and great attitude.
This reminded me of an apocryphal story about two men entering a restaurant, both for the first time. One of the men is pleasant to the waiter, eats his meal, and leaves a reasonably generous tip. The other man is not very pleasant, and stiffs the waiter when he leaves. The next week the same two men come back to the restaurant. The man who left the tip gets a nice table near the window. The man who was inward and unpleasant gets a table by the kitchen. And so their lives slowly diverge, with one finding things ‘easy’ and the other finding them ‘hard’, but they both chose their path.
A few years [decades, ed. [no need to rub it in, xty]] ago we were celebrating that all important event of the season, Christmas eve [is that the rub, ed.? yes, now buzz off, xty]], and a person who is related to me but must remain nameless to protect all and sundry, came over, and when he came in he told a story about how the ‘idiots’ next door were stuck in their driveway. We sometimes get a wee bit of snow and it was one of those afternoons. He had then parked way down the street. Then some old [speaking of rubbing it in, ed. [truth bites, sometimes, xty]] friends of ours came in and told a story about how they had helped the people next door who it turned out were leaving for the night, and who had subsequently let them park in their driveway.
I am no angel, and it was touch and go on the card for the postman. But this morning I remembered hubby saying that the postman had thanked him, and I thought of the postman going home, and having received or not received thanks or recognition from people he serves all year. How that would change his conversations. Would he put the card up somewhere?
It is the positive ripple of the altruism quandary: I feel better and he does too. Bragging yes, but honestly I am mostly a bum. And it was his simple good choice to put biscuits in his pocket that started this wave of good karma: I am just a lucky recipient of his impulse. So really he made me feel better … no wonder Mouse left him a card!
I hope you may add to the positive ripples in the pond today, and get a biscuit or two in return from the cosmic karmic postie.
Very nice, Xty. Any post with Mouse in it is a sure winner. Just had to get that out there.
My thoughts on Karma are encapsulated in the phrase “what goes around, comes around”. I don’t believe in magic, but I’m confident that the more you send good things out into the world, the more likely that good things will come back to you. And visa versa. It’s probability really. Someone could perhaps come up with a mathematical formula for it. 😎
………..and a smile is free. A few years ago, (well a third of a century at least) I had a job in the service industry that could get quite hectic. I was all straight faced serious hustle to serve as many customers in the shortest time possible to save their precious time (and add to my bonus).
Then one day someone flashed a dazzling smile that I unconsciously returned. Didn’t stay unconscious for long- man that felt good! So I kept it up.
Now we tear a few calendar pages off, and find me dealing with a repeat customer. Transaction complete and I, recently clean shaven, give him the sunbeam business.
“You must be new. I sure like you a lot better than that bearded s.o.b. that used to be here.”
I am exploiting Mouse, but I read once that putting an animal on the label of a wine increased sales by about 20%, so maybe today I will get one more visitor.
I know the post was somewhat mushy but my eldest flies home tonight and I am all of a twitter. I should be focusing on the den desk, but my mind is flighty … and there was freezing drizzle this morning. And tonight is hubby’s work party and I am dredging up false enthusiasm, not my strongest suit. As I said to my mum, I will need to put on nice clothes and talk to people. Good god what a world.
And the heart attack at 51 – yes. We are all lucky to wake up breathing. And I am also more than willing to receive fiat currency if anyone hates theirs. I too still believe that there will be disaster in the financial world but I am not and never have been an all eggs in one basket person. We over rotated, and I sure got emotional, watching the price of gold like a moron day in and day out. But I really don’t regret getting into physical metals. I have greatly enjoyed limited coin collecting, and silver coins are a really nice gift. I try not to dwell on losses – roof still over head and food in fridge. Expectations a little trimmed, and substitution economy ain’t so bad even if I do miss some previous luxuries.
My eldest comes home tonight as well, with girlfriend in tow. The five of us will spend a joyous Yule season nestled together in the living room, all in our usual places, eating out of bowls and small plates. Happy, happy, joy, joy.
As much as I rail against the goldbuggerers these days, I still watch the price like a moron every day, and still have an egregiously lumpy mattress from the stuff.
very nice Xty. thank you!
i believe kindness has a multiplier, and so does hostility. perhaps karma is as simple as that?
i have not changed my mind either Xty. my biggest problem with the entire meme is the accompanying blame game. and that it is going exactly by plan.
My most interesting read of the morning (after Xty’s, of course!):
The blog is dead, long live the blog
and the author’s companion piece on his own blog:
R.I.P The Blog, 1997-2013
I watch the price every day, but not every minute or in the middle of the night. That was silly, I am pretty sure.
And the blog would die the moment I start trying to write one. Maybe I will have to try my next web idea which is an interactive novel, in which commenters can like or dislike characters, etc. Like those choose your own adventure books my kids had, but live, so a new instalment every few days, which would incorporate or not that feedback. The commenters might even become characters, like a book within a book, or in this case a book outside a book.
Perhaps I should be cleaning the den.
I have a largely inactive twitter feed (15 tweets in almost 3 years). For a while I was thinking that if “Eric Original” wanted to continue posting investment thoughts on a near daily basis, I would probably do it via twitter or not at all. I guess “not at all” won. I’m already taking up enough webspace here at the Lighthouse.
This past fall I broke down and got on Facebook as well, just to sort of see what my kids are doing. It bores me already. Video pop up ads will be coming to Fbook soon, and when that happens, I’m out of there. The kids don’t really put much stuff on it anymore anyway. Facebook is all parents and grandparents now. Boring. The kids are all on Tumblr, Instagram, and other stuff I’ve never even seen or heard of. That’s why they are there! Seriously, would you be active on any social media if you knew your Mom was going to read all your stuff? Me neither.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/27/17-reasons-why-the-kids-dont-like-facebook-anymore_n_3825165.html
i’m kind of a luddite. my past career was in wireless technology, but even then i was slow to adopt the latest gadgets. the boss about once a year would ask for us to come down to the “switch” and get our new phones. yeah, that’s what they were called then. i’d always hold out as long as i could. only in the last year did i finally give in and buy a smart phone.
i just dealt with 1/2 inch of ice on two cars, a decent length of sidewalk along the street and around the house, and a porch. it took 1/2 hour per car to chisel them out. on the walks i used salt, sand, and 1/2 of a 5 gallon bucket of old aquarium gravel that for some reason i hadn’t thrown out yet. probably because it was too heavy for the garbage people these days, and was a goofy color so i didn’t want to decorate my cacti pots with it.
about half way through all that, i decided that later today i will be cooking on the grill. screw it. 🙂 i haven’t decided what yet, but if i pick up something interesting to smoke, i will take pictures. it is easy to smoke using a “baby weber”. there really is no need to buy anything fancy to smoke meat and fish unless you want to make enough to have left-overs. well now i’m thinking salmon. we’ll see what they have. my wife’s going out to dinner tonight, so i get to play.
Can’t let the day escape without commenting:
“I will need to put on nice clothes and talk to people.”
Uh…yeah. That is me to a tee as well. Is this an INTJ thing as well? Derek, please fill in the gaps.
I know this might make a few of us throw up, but I just have to do it.
I had bookmarked one of Turd’s comments from April 9, 2013, and labeled it:
“Turd’s Worst. Advice. Ever.”
He goes through the basics of the stock bull case, talking about how the Fed is pumping up the stock market. So far, so good. But then of course he jumps the shark with his conclusion at the end. He manages to get it 180 degrees wrong, as usual.
“Please don’t buy into this charade.”
Nice one, Turd. Identify the one area that TPTB are pouring money into, and then tell your flock to stay the hell away from it. Basically saying “They are handing out money. Don’t take it!” Jeez Louise… 😯
If I had had any cash left at the time, I would have dumped it all into the SPY, just as an FU, but I was already all in!
FOR THE RECORD: Since TF’s brilliant post, the S & P 500 is +16%. Gold is -24%.
Whether anything is “upon us” or not, that is some pretty damn brilliant prepping advice there, Turd! Better get your bugout bags ready folks, because if you follow advice like that, your sleeping bag, your water filter, and a buck two eighty in junk silver is all you are going to have left!
And people will pay $10 a month for garbage like that. Amazing.
in the spirit of the holidays, i’m not going to flog a dead horse, but i’ll grind my spurs in just a little. the truth is that “Santa’s” pumping, or perhaps it was shilling, hurt me a lot more than TF’s prognostications ever did. i knew better, so it really is my own fault. “just trust me” generally turns out to be shitty investment advice. i feel exactly the same way about Maguire. man was i stupid! man o man! ouch!
it was the foray into, and then head long plunge into right wing politics over there that finished the site for me for good. so i am glad i got banned, because that ended my association with that festering shit hole! (oops) no secret to you guys either that it was my intention to get blocked. i kept going back to the place like a dog attracted to its own vomit. i needed to be stopped.
anyway, salmon apparently isn’t available in my small city, at least not (very) fresh, around X-mas time. besides that, we have continued to get freezing rain on and off all day, which has taken away my motivation to use the grill. so i am making a sirloin tip roast in my Dutch oven instead. i think i may have mentioned that i save my dill pickle brine for roasts, and i had some to use up anyway. pretty standard other than that – sear in skillet, throw in Dutch oven, this and that seasoning, and some veggies, cook low and slow.
i have some beer drinking to do tonight, and may have some interesting company in and out. i’ll check in and play some tunes, but m44 has to show up and help!
hope you guys all have some nice family/friend time on the way. see y’all later.
Yeah, Sinclair was amazing. Double down, double down, double down. BTFD. On every dip. And he seemed to exude “gravitas” unlike the rest of those rubes. Hard timetables, like his birthday, ffs. Remember that one? End of March it was all going to blow sky high.
At the roulette wheel it’s called “The Martingale System”, and a 100% sure route to bankruptcy. If you play long enough you will hit a bad streak and be unable to up your bet. You are done. One day you got a comped room and a lady friend, the next all you’ve got is a bus ticket out of town.
I once personally lost at roulette with a simple bet on black 11 times in a row. It had to hit red eventually, right? Yes kids, the wheel can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent. And no, the wheel has no memory and no knowledge of your suffering.
p.s. No, I wasn’t fully doubling every time, but it did end my evening (and pretty much the whole trip) prematurely. Do the math. Bummer. 😥
Martingale – Betting Systems
it actually was buying into Sinclair’s “before my birthday”, “mother of all sure things” (my phrase) that finally finished off my trading account, and also crippled my IRA, and FUBAR it is to this very day. yup – i doubled down one last time. that is why i wonder if he’s a shill, seriously. he led so many to slaughter in that epic, horrific, 6 sigma, yada yada April blood bath. it’s almost like he had a copy of the playbook. the kicker is that he’s still mega rich despite all of his horrible calls, and i’m just one minor set back away from enlisting in the so called “free shit army”. and not one fucking word of apology. nothing. just on to the next call. no big whoop.
but not tonight. to hell with it!
i knocked the roast out of the park! roast beef sandwiches for all! bring beer.
gotta go. no more turd talk OK. might have to be a New Years rez.
The kids are here, and we are watching this one. My fav Christmas show from when I was a kid.
here’s a song for Xty and EO to play for the kids tonight. you were cooler than they are now, well once… and Dude, from now on you can be called Rock and Roll Grampa!
Happy Solstice everyone! An excellent time to ponder new beginnings. The past is past. Each day gets brighter from here on out.
I’ve gathered a few “Solstice Cards” and will post forthwith. Mostly I love the picture on this one. It didn’t even really need any text.
Something about this one I like as well.
And a fine bit of poetry on this one. Have a great day all.
here ya go heathens! some interesting reading about the history of Yule…
http://www.thewhitegoddess.co.uk/the_wheel_of_the_year/yule_-_winter_solstice.asp