Tuesday

I am back in a continuing education program again today. This one is being conducted at the iWireless Center in Moline...so at least there's not any travel involved. The program is one presented by the University of Illinois...that is actually an outgrowth of what they used to call The Annual Farm Tax School.

There was a time when the U of I would do the program specifically directed for preparers with agricultural clients. Farmers have always had a lot of industry-specific tax issues...deductions, elections and filing requirements. In recent years, they have shed the "Farm" designation in the title, but they still bring in any special updates that are obviously relevant to farmer clients.

Remember the old Michael Jordan and Spike Lee commercials where the tag line was always, "It's the shoes!!"? (The gratuitous punctuation is mine.) Anyway, my pal Pete always used that line whenever I (or anyone else for that matter) complained about muscles strains, ankle issues or other leg problems (from running or other workout experiences). Yesterday, I had made a nominal effort to spiff-up my appearance just a bit due to a meeting with with a group of client employees. That spiff-up included a dress shirt and a newer pair of Rockports from my closet.

Yeah, that choice of shoes was a mistake. I had forgotten that those shoes had been purchased over a year ago to replace a similar pair that had been showing some wear. As is my wont, the intent was to acquire a new pair of the exact same style of shoe (since the shoe had been a success for me). Of course, I immediately learned that the exact pair of Rockports was no longer available. Rather, they had a "new and improved" version. Right. But the new version "fit" my foot so I made the purchase. Well, that was a mistake.

After the first few days of wearing the new shoes, I noticed an extra ache in my back and some soreness in my knees. The new model had a harder sole and my rotation through a normal step was disrupted. I finally suspected the shoes, took a few days wearing the old ones, and those aches went away. "It's the shoes!!" So rather than get rid of them, they went to the closet. Smart move.

Fast forward to yesterday. Nicer shoes for the meeting? Here we go, right here! How do you say, "Slow learner!"? Now the word is, "Salvation Army".

Here's a daily dose of 3.01.


It's a bit interesting that the financial markets have kind of shrugged off the Paris attacks, actually moving higher this week. Part of the explanation for that result might be that there had been some selling last week that had taken the averages off of their recent highs. I had been telling clients before the attacks that the trends were suggesting a soft holiday season, there was likely an interest rate hike next month, and slow growth in China was still a factor. All are true. This geo-political event hasn't caused a ripple. Yet.

There's A LOT of chatter in the USA political class on the Paris event. And I think most of it, at least from the POTHUS and all of the current presidential candidates, is ALL politics. I mute them all. Prime Country on Sirius is my go-to audio choice.

The plan is to head over to Iowa City tonight to participate in half-price pizza night at The Airliner with 3. Always a choice. We'll most certainly be doing a selfie for the Twitterverse.

BCOT

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad