Wednesday

I'm making 3 Daughter of the Day for her long days this week.  Lots of airports and time zones in the Fast Lane.  Very proud of you, Kiddo.  (Sorry for the poor quality of this pic...I'll see if I have a better one on the laptop tonight.)

I had a follow-up with the doc yesterday on my pneumonia.  The x-ray shows that my lungs have cleared-up from last week (not that they are "clear" by any stretch), but I'm still not quite "back", so I have another round of anti-biotics, this time Levofloxacin.  Never heard of it, but I assume that it is a relative of amoxicillin.  I've tried to run my days this week like regular business, but have found that I get gassed by 1600 or so.  Its heck getting old.

The SOTU address did not make it to Maplecrest.  The politics of

Washington are discouragingly similar to a daytime TV soap opera: miss a few weeks of episodes, then tune back in, and you're fully caught up in about two minutes.  These are not very interesting people.

Big news in the Midwest is the IOC electing to discontinue wrestling as a sport at the 2020 games.  Where'd that come from?  Unlike, say softball, which seems to have limited international acceptance, isn't wrestling one of those basic sports that goes back to pre-historic times?  I mean, the ball wasn't even invented when guys started testing one another's manliness.  My guess is that we haven't heard the last of this one.

I missed recognizing Lincoln's birthday yesterday.  Back in Olden Times, Lincoln and Washington's birthday were separately recognized.  When I had noted the 12th as Lincoln's birthday last week when the clerk at the doctor's office was scheduling my follow-up appointment, she looked at me with a blank face, since most of the younger generation (outside of Illinois, maybe) only know of the three-day weekend for President's Day.

Shame on me.  Today is Ash Wednesday.  A guy on CNBC with a high forehead and little hair came on camera with more ash than make-up.  It is not sufficient to believe, you need to proclaim.

The markets seem to suggest that there will be some kind of agreement on this sequester thing.  I think traders have become a bit anesthetized to the geo-political drama (Washington, Europe, China etc.) and there remains a lot of cash on the sideline.  The recognition that interest rates will eventually rise, and the money-easing by the Fed have investors throwing up the chute and reluctantly climbing on the equity train.  It would feel a lot better if the economy actually got going above the anemic levels that are currently being recorded.

Make it a Good Wednesday.

BCOT