• Home
• Links
• The Archives
• Gallery

DAD Thoughts 3/14

March 14, 2009 by Steve Elledge 

* Slept in this morning until almost 7:30 – it was awesome as I haven’t been sleeping well.
* Alot of activity around here – B is back, BGE is visiting, today we watch over Em for a few hours.
* Life is good – when you look at what is happening to our Country daily – it is hard to imagine.
* Totally depressing to watch the Big O rip the heart out of what I have always believed was “unrippable”. Every single day he pulls apart another fiber or two of the country I love. Some days it’s suttle, some days it is huge.
* I used to wonder what Big “O’s” agenda was – now I am reasonably sure he probably wonders that also. It can’t make any sense can it?
* Hey — brighten up Steve —— God is Good and He works in very very very mysterious ways. He is working now – I can see it every time I look at my grandkids – from Big B to little B there is hope!
* I think we will take Em up to Menard’s or Home Depot and wander around for awhile when he gets here. He seems to like “field trips”.
* I am still pondering a retirement strategy. Change daily seems like. Some days I’m good for a couple of years. Right now I am flipping a coin: One side says work a couple of more years to increase the stipend a little bit; the other side wonders if the stipend will still be available in a couple of years. Common sense (is there such a thing anymore) tells me that if they have to pull in their reigns with the State program it will be by modifying and reducing plans for employees that havent yet retired and they will likely try to maintain what existing retirees are getting since that is finite and will reduce as the retirees croak! Sooo – if I stay am I actually risking benefit reduction? Hell – I don’t know. It’s a crap shoot for sure. Right now news says State Retirement System investments down over 30%. I would be comfortable with the thought that there will be a rebound as there has been in the past IF things were just different at the top of the Nation.
* I think our Income Taxes are filed and we should actually be getting some money back. That irritates me because that just means that Queen Pelosi has been flying around in big jets on money she is using of mine with zero interest. Or perhaps First Lady O has been using my measley stipend to import caviar?
* Okay – good news here is that Brae is just about to get up from her nap and it is almost time for Em to arrive. That will get me away from reading all of the B.S. on-line that I have been reading this morning that has been cheering me up so much.
* Monday will be a big change day for Big B and I. Vic & Brae will depart – Brae to OP and Vic to LA. Will be a quiet week.
* B has an interview Tuesday with Hilltop Bank – I am excited for him. Hope they can pay him well enough for him to make the transition. Seems like there could be a nice future in banking – if you like working for the Government!
* My thoughts are with all of you – there have been a few trials and tribulations of late – but we are still a richly blessed family.