I just wanted to let you know that whatever you paid Google, and whomever you paid to set up the target words to get your site to pop up on the "sponsored links" on google ads is working. It was money well spent. In the past 2 days, your site had come up on the sidebar next to my GMail account as I've read some emails that people have sent me. I don't always look at these, but I do often enough to see repeats when it comes to the sponsors.
The thing is, Mr. DeAngelo, I'm not sure why your site keeps coming into my inbox. You run a site for picking up women. I'm a woman. A heterosexual woman. A married, heterosexual woman. Go figure.
Anyway, have a nice day. Good luck in your business. It's been a while since I've been able to write anyone a letter and I doubt this one will make it to the google page (thank goodness!). You have a lot of followers and links out there. I'm sure you'll be fine without my business.
Fondly,
H
Friday, July 31, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
The China-Prostitute Recession Theory
I sometimes try to understand the economy. I don't try too hard because it just plain hurts my brain. I know I should care more and try harder but I just can't. Our friend, Scott, tries and tries to get me to care and engage and even offers up podcasts that are supposed to be really user friendly. It wasn't until I hit him with an amusing email that was sent to me that we finally found a breaking ground for my understanding of the recession. Now, I know I've already lost some of you (April!), but I did my best to get some of you hooked with the title of this post. So, here goes, the "China-Prositute Recession Theory".
It is a slow day in the East Texas town of Madisonville. It is raining, and the little town looks totally deserted. Times are tough, everybody is in debt and everybody lives on credit.
On this particular day a rich tourist from the East is driving through town. He enters the only hotel in the sleepy town and lays a hundred dollar bill on the desk stating he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one to spend the night.
As soon as the man walks up the stairs, the hotel proprietor takes the hundred dollar bill and runs next door to pay his debt to the butcher.
The butcher takes the $100 and runs down the street to pay his debt to the pig farmer.
The pig farmer then takes the $100 and heads off to pay his debt to the supplier of feed and fuel.
The guy at the Farmer's Co-op takes the $100 and runs to pay his debt to the local prostitute, who has also been facing hard times and has lately had to offer her "services" on credit.
The hooker runs to the hotel and pays off her debt with the $100 to the hotel proprietor, paying for the rooms that she had rented when she brought clients to that establishment.
The hotel proprietor then lays the $100 bill back on the counter so the rich traveler will not suspect anything. At that moment the traveler from the East walks back down the stairs, after inspecting the rooms. He picks up the $100 bill and states that the rooms are not satisfactory...... Pockets the money and walks out the door and leaves town.
No one earned anything. However the whole town is now out of debt, and looks to the future with a lot of optimism. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how the United States Government is conducting business today.
I sent the above silly analgy to Scott and he responded by saying that none of those people really had reason to be worried unless they feared that one of them would not come through on their debt. It was a circular debt, which I can actually picture, which meant that their balance sheet actually came out to zero. (Those were Scott's words, not mine!) But then Scott took it a step further, because that's what he does, and this is where the breakthrough is made for me...
"We have one guy with a ton of money, who lends to the hotel proprieter, the the butcher, the pig farmer, the supplier, and the prostitute...
This man has a lot of money for lending, but he decides to save and lend his money rather than spend it on himself. He lives a poor miserly existence, but he has access to all the cash...
And the folks in town are dependent on loans from this man and are afraid that he'll stop lending or will raise the interest rates...
Well, this rich man is China and the borrowers are the US...
There's a ton more to the story...
But the bottom line is China has flooded our markets with cheap cash that they've gotten from us buying all of the goods they manufacture on our behalf. But instead of pumping that money back into our markets by buying our goods... They save it and lend it back to us...
Its a global trade imbalance that had a lot to do with our current recession. And a recovery depends largely on our ability to correct that imbalance.
Get that miserly hoarder to service that prostitute darn it.. :-) (j/k)."
And that folks, is the China-Prostitute Recession Theory.
Oh, we're such a riot, aren't we? I'll assume Scott doesn't mind me pulling all of this out of the comment section of his blog and reposting it. It was just way too insightful for me to let go. Plus, I love me a good theory.
It is a slow day in the East Texas town of Madisonville. It is raining, and the little town looks totally deserted. Times are tough, everybody is in debt and everybody lives on credit.
On this particular day a rich tourist from the East is driving through town. He enters the only hotel in the sleepy town and lays a hundred dollar bill on the desk stating he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one to spend the night.
As soon as the man walks up the stairs, the hotel proprietor takes the hundred dollar bill and runs next door to pay his debt to the butcher.
The butcher takes the $100 and runs down the street to pay his debt to the pig farmer.
The pig farmer then takes the $100 and heads off to pay his debt to the supplier of feed and fuel.
The guy at the Farmer's Co-op takes the $100 and runs to pay his debt to the local prostitute, who has also been facing hard times and has lately had to offer her "services" on credit.
The hooker runs to the hotel and pays off her debt with the $100 to the hotel proprietor, paying for the rooms that she had rented when she brought clients to that establishment.
The hotel proprietor then lays the $100 bill back on the counter so the rich traveler will not suspect anything. At that moment the traveler from the East walks back down the stairs, after inspecting the rooms. He picks up the $100 bill and states that the rooms are not satisfactory...... Pockets the money and walks out the door and leaves town.
No one earned anything. However the whole town is now out of debt, and looks to the future with a lot of optimism. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how the United States Government is conducting business today.
I sent the above silly analgy to Scott and he responded by saying that none of those people really had reason to be worried unless they feared that one of them would not come through on their debt. It was a circular debt, which I can actually picture, which meant that their balance sheet actually came out to zero. (Those were Scott's words, not mine!) But then Scott took it a step further, because that's what he does, and this is where the breakthrough is made for me...
"We have one guy with a ton of money, who lends to the hotel proprieter, the the butcher, the pig farmer, the supplier, and the prostitute...
This man has a lot of money for lending, but he decides to save and lend his money rather than spend it on himself. He lives a poor miserly existence, but he has access to all the cash...
And the folks in town are dependent on loans from this man and are afraid that he'll stop lending or will raise the interest rates...
Well, this rich man is China and the borrowers are the US...
There's a ton more to the story...
But the bottom line is China has flooded our markets with cheap cash that they've gotten from us buying all of the goods they manufacture on our behalf. But instead of pumping that money back into our markets by buying our goods... They save it and lend it back to us...
Its a global trade imbalance that had a lot to do with our current recession. And a recovery depends largely on our ability to correct that imbalance.
Get that miserly hoarder to service that prostitute darn it.. :-) (j/k)."
And that folks, is the China-Prostitute Recession Theory.
Oh, we're such a riot, aren't we? I'll assume Scott doesn't mind me pulling all of this out of the comment section of his blog and reposting it. It was just way too insightful for me to let go. Plus, I love me a good theory.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
They Can Be Taught
Three weeks ago we started a sewing project in Young Women. Each girl came up with their own saying, drew it on the muslin, and stitched it on with embroidery thread. Then we did a little quilting around the edges and sewed it onto a back so it can be stuffed into a pillow. Last week, when we still weren't done they were asking to complete it this week because, as one girl said, "I don't need ANOTHER unfinished project at my house!" That was awesome, and so typical for me. So here are the 4 completely ones. Mine didn't get finished (I was busy helping) and one of the girls that missed last week is still working on hers...
The best part of this whole project was the 3 nights of sewing and chatting that we were able to do. One of the youth said something like, "I feel like my grandma when she sits around with all the old ladies quilting." WooHoo! I told them it was "pea shellin' time"... the time when women used to sit around shelling peas together, talking and working at the same time. Now our peas come frozen and ready to eat so we have to come up with other ways to connect with our sisters. They got a kick out of the frozen pea issue.
The other thing that was funny tonight stemmed from our discussion last week. They talked about wanting to cook and make some donuts this week. We decided to finish these pillows, but one of the girls called me today to see if we were making donuts. We weren't but I've been thinking about donuts since she called. Of course, I picked up a dozen on my way to mutual. Here's the conversation that ensued:
Me: You can all thank Amber for the donuts.
Amanda: Why?
Me: Because she called me this afternoon to ask if we were making them today.
Amanda: I don't get it.
Me: Well, she asked about donuts and then that was all I could think about.
All the girls: Oooh! (laughing)
Me: I'm pregnant, you know, that's not nice.
Allie: I get it. So all we have to do is call you on Wednesday and say "hey is tonight the night we're making brownies or pizza or cookies" and you'll end up bringing them.
(more laughing)
Ah, yes. Those girls are such a riot. It's amazing how quickly they can learn when it involves food.
The best part of this whole project was the 3 nights of sewing and chatting that we were able to do. One of the youth said something like, "I feel like my grandma when she sits around with all the old ladies quilting." WooHoo! I told them it was "pea shellin' time"... the time when women used to sit around shelling peas together, talking and working at the same time. Now our peas come frozen and ready to eat so we have to come up with other ways to connect with our sisters. They got a kick out of the frozen pea issue.The other thing that was funny tonight stemmed from our discussion last week. They talked about wanting to cook and make some donuts this week. We decided to finish these pillows, but one of the girls called me today to see if we were making donuts. We weren't but I've been thinking about donuts since she called. Of course, I picked up a dozen on my way to mutual. Here's the conversation that ensued:
Me: You can all thank Amber for the donuts.
Amanda: Why?
Me: Because she called me this afternoon to ask if we were making them today.
Amanda: I don't get it.
Me: Well, she asked about donuts and then that was all I could think about.
All the girls: Oooh! (laughing)
Me: I'm pregnant, you know, that's not nice.
Allie: I get it. So all we have to do is call you on Wednesday and say "hey is tonight the night we're making brownies or pizza or cookies" and you'll end up bringing them.
(more laughing)
Ah, yes. Those girls are such a riot. It's amazing how quickly they can learn when it involves food.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Because I know You All Want to See...
This is what it looked like initially, on day 2. The bright red was 2nd degree, right by it (where it looks a little white) was the spot that we were concerned about. The pink going down the arm was still developing into blisters and it had barely shown up at this point. Who knew it took that long for a burn to show up? Wow, it all looks so red and raw in this picture.
This one was taken today as we cleaned it off in the shower. As you can see, the spots going down her arm have almost all healed. They are a strange brown color in spots, but you really wouldn't notice anything if there wasn't a bandage and other problems going on. The red is now pink and the white spots are mostly gone. There were never any more talks of skin grafts after th first few days, so thank you all for your prayers. I know they worked!
As you can see by her smile, Tasha is taking it all pretty well. Obviously she was still in the shower when we took the picture and she wasn't screaming at all. There were a few moments that she didn't want to work on it all, but she plugged away and I think we did a pretty good job cleaning the area. Wrap up went fine, no complaints at all. I think I made a fine nurse this morning. I think I have a better close up picture I will try to post as well.
Monday, July 27, 2009
We're Outta Here!!!
Thanks everyone for all the pictures, cards, and balloons!
Davis's, Sauer's, Lee's, Turley's, Momo, UOP, Primary, Kyra
Tasha says, "kids, I missed you!" And now she's busy playing with surgical gloves... putting them on her feet and then tying them to her ankles and declaring them super heros. Silly kid, she's a little giddy to go home.
Thanks also for all the food: Marie, Jaylee, Sara, Crystal
Thanks also for the visits: Mom, Maggie, Crystal, Jared, Sara, Jeanette, Onnalisa
Thanks also for the books and coloring stuff: April, Crystal, Sara, Maggie
Thanks for the prayers, well wishes, emails, phone calls and comments: EVERYONE!!!
Did I forget you?! So sorry, it's been a long week...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)