May 26, 2009

A good friend of mine asked me to write a few blogs like I used to do in my Yahoo 360 blog days. I agreed, so over the next few weeks I'll try to post some thoughts here. It's pretty likely there will be nothing profound here, just random thoughts and happenings from my day.

I spent the day today sifting through more financial data, news stories, and tasks - as I have come to do most every day now. The more that I read, the more that I realize that our world has now woven an intricate set of lies, one on top of the other, that have resulted in another new web of unintended consequences that must be dealt with in order to propagate the first set of lies. Investing today has become more of a guessing game of "what lie will be told next, and how do we position ourselves to profit from its implementation?" It's quite sick. There no wonder people find such wisdom from the words of the ancient Jewish law. Life would be so much easier if people would abide by it.

As I was driving home tonight, I saw the bright orange full moon rising over the lake near my house. I have always been amazed by the moon, even fascinated by it. But there's just something quite striking and beautiful about it when the dust in the horizon toys with its light and allows us to see the reddish hues that I saw tonight. Beautiful... and so peaceful.

I've come to understand that I will never be the kind of guy that has thousands of friends, but the friends that I do have will generally regard me as reliable and a straight shooter. I have little patience for "playing the game" of political correctness and that often means that I end up offending someone, are at least appearing immature in their eyes. While that used to bother me, I'm okay with it now. In many ways, I AM immature. I believe that I know when it's important to buck up and be serious, though. Whatever the case, I am what I am, and I am no longer ashamed of who that person (me) is.

I've planted a number of trees in my yard... I now have two pear trees and a nectarine tree. I hope to add a pecan tree soon. In addition to these I also have strawberries and grape vines planted. My reason for planting these is not so much for the decoration, but for the utility of having a source of fruit that I don't have to go to the store to obtain. If I honestly believe that there will be rough times coming down the economic track, I should make adequate preparation to account for my beliefs. This is why I've begun gardening, as well. Our culture has become so far removed from living off the land that if we had to, all of a sudden, I wonder who among us could actually survive without a fully-stocked grocery store. I'd love to be able to provide my daughters with a basket full of money and an opportunity for them to do whatever they want, wherever they want to do it. But honestly, I'm much happier to think that they might learn first to live without. Then I think they will appreciate more what it is like to have.