Living Reflections from a Dream

MBIA, Ambac Likely to Get Bailout, UniCredit Says: I suspect this is the reason the market rallied yesterday. See my post on credit default swaps from a few days ago. (Update: looky, it made the front of the NYT: Next on the Worry List: Shaky Insurers of Bonds)

And once we get passed the current market volatility: David Walker, Comptroller of the US on how our current standard of living is unsustainable:

Last July on 60 Minutes:

The most striking part was the statement about how you might expect us to present someone who disagrees with David Walker, but no one does.

Jan 9 on the Real Story (apparently on CNN):

I swear we are a society gone mad.

Earlier this week the FDA declared that meat and milk from cloned animals is safe. Based on what? Extensive studies over a long period of time to see what effect ingesting cloned animals has on human beings? Supposedly the FDA has been looking into this for 6 years. I say: not long enough. How would we know what the long term impact could be?

And do food producers have to label meat as from clones? No.

Although the FDA said last week that it will not require special labels on foods from clones, legislation already introduced in the Senate could force the agency's hand. Short of that, many consumers are demanding that the agency allow food from conventional animals to be labeled "clone-free" -- a marketing move that could dash industry hopes of getting beyond the public debate over clones.

Damn consumers and their concern with what they eat! Fortunately, a bill has been introduced requiring labeling on cloned meat.

Is there some shortage of meat? Have the cows started refusing to reproduce? What is the point here? And there absolutely has be to be better ways of spending FDA money and resources than this research.

Then again there is a little agency infighting:

While officials at the Food and Drug Administration approved this week the sale of food from cloned animals, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has asked producers to keep the meat off the market because of consumer fears.

Big Dig tunnels spring 237 leaks

Overall, a recent engineering report shows there are a total of 670 Big Dig leaks, of which the 237 are in a category considered the most serious.

"I don't like to see 670 leaks - that has to be erased," said Robert Rooney, deputy secretary for public works, who assumed his state job in July.

Rooney said his boss, Transportation Secretary Bernard Cohen, ordered the Turnpike Authority late last year to assign one engineer to work full time on the leaks. He also ordered the authority to increase the number of contractor crews fighting leaks from just one to five or six.

Rooney said the number of leaks should be reduced to no more than a couple of dozen by the end of 2008.

"We don't want to have to rebuild those tunnels because of damage," he said. "Proper maintenance can extend its life indefinitely."

If girders were degraded and reconstruction required, Big Dig managers - as well as drivers - would face a logistical nightmare. With the old elevated Central Artery torn down, there is no simple alternative route for getting traffic through the city.

If girders were degraded and reconstruction required??? Is this really an option?

Again, I just want to stay home and bunker down.

merge onto the highway at high speed without regard to the traffic, you know, already on the highway. I've noticed that over the last year or so, this seems to be the norm. Um.. NO. When I learned to drive, you drove up, you looked before you leaped, the merged into the lane when there was a break in the traffic action. You did NOT just zoom on to the highway without even looking at the existing traffic, acting as if people should get out of your way with an attitude of "I'm here on the highway now. Look at me go". Hello.. I am in this lane and I'm not invisible. I may drive a Mini Cooper, but I can still fuck you up. I am from Massachusetts and I will not take shit on the road!

I am one of those reusable bag proponents (those plastic bag are bad for many, many reasons: read up on it), but I refuse to use the hideous green bags available for purchase at Stop & Shop or worse, Shaw's, where the bags have the Simpsons on them (Recycle, d'oh! I did not make that up). I have slightly more fashionable bags bought reusablebags.com.

Yesterday, I'm checking out at Stop & Shop. I hand over my reusable bags to bagger boy who proceeds to pack half of one bag, then just walks away. Another bagger inexplicably arrives and ignores my reusable bags, fills a plastic bag up, then also walks away. I roll my eyes and start taking the items out of the plastic bag to put into my bag. The second I finish this task, the cashier grabs the plastic bag and throws it in the trash. I stare at him. You know you're defeating my whole purpose here. Hello. He replies: it's used, we can't reuse it.

Seriously, I'm going to have to stop shopping there.

Recently, I listened to an interview with a person who worked in publishing on how she manages the 'slush pile' (aka unsolicited manuscripts). She said she often gets query letters which include a line like:

I've written a fictional novel.

She said she immediately discounts these people and their manuscript.

I was thinking about this today when I received an email from a co-worker asking me to run a meeting for him with this excuse:

I'm having an emergency root canal on my teeth.

Sigh.

See... there are these veggie burgers that I love ( and I do mean love). So, I purchase them ALL the time, thus I KNOW how much they cost: $3.29 at the local Stop & Shop. A couple of months ago, they shot up to $3.99, which I noticed. Now, you may think: 70 cents, big whoop. Actually, that is what I thought. All food seems more expensive to me these days (milk, anyone? It's more expensive than gas).

A few weeks ago, a sign appeared at Stop & Shop that said this:

New lower prices!
Was: $3.99
Now: $3.69

It's a deal! Stop & Shop cares about me! They want me to have the food I like for less money.
I should buy more and more and more.

Except they don't think I noticed that a few weeks prior to this sign appearing, this product was $3.29. I've noticed these little signs all over Stop & Shop and I have to tell you: I think all of these products were raised, just to be "lowered".

For shame...

Tonight at 7:30, after my 11 hour day at work, I walk into the train station in a grouchy mood and I hear blasting at me from all directions: the Counting Crows. I look around for someone with a huge boom box, I see no one meeting that description, just a man staring suspicious at an empty plastic bag left on the platform.

Then I hear the announcement: This is T Radio! And now for some news on the lighter side. The bubble above my head says: T Radio? Oh no. What is this "News on the lighter side", you ask? Well, I learned there is a guy attempting to break the record for longest leg hair. He's got it up to several inches, but he wants people to know it's only 1 hair - he's no ape man. I feel my mouth opening and head tilting to the side as I stare at the ceiling in disbelief. Next up: we find out that you have greater chances of becoming a supermodel than winning the lottery (or was it vice versa?). Is this news, even of the lighter shade variety? After that were radio ads. Mercifully, the train arrives and I escape T Radio.

Of course it's annoying, of course it seems non-sensical, but when I thought about it a bit more (on the nice quiet train), I realized it's ad revenue for the T (at least I hope it is). Perhaps they can use that money to get their act together.

TimesSelect is dead

This is a very, very good thing...

A Letter to Readers About TimesSelect

Dear NYTimes.com Readers:

Effective Sept. 19, we are ending TimesSelect. All of our online readers will now be able to read Times columnists, access our archives back to 1987 and enjoy many other TimesSelect features that have been added over the last two years – free.

If you are a paying TimesSelect subscriber, you will receive a prorated refund. For more information, please go to our TimesSelect FAQ.

Why the change?

Since we launched TimesSelect in 2005, the online landscape has altered significantly. Readers increasingly find news through search, as well as through social networks, blogs and other online sources. In light of this shift, we believe offering unfettered access to New York Times reporting and analysis best serves the interest of our readers, our brand and the long-term vitality of our journalism. We encourage everyone to read our news and opinion – as well as share it, link to it and comment on it.

We welcome all online readers to enjoy the popular and powerful voices that have defined Times commentary – Maureen Dowd, Thomas L. Friedman, Frank Rich, Gail Collins, Paul Krugman, David Brooks, Bob Herbert, Nicholas D. Kristof and Roger Cohen. And we invite them to become acquainted with our exclusive online journalism – columns by Stanley Fish, Maira Kalman, Dick Cavett and Judith Warner; the Opinionator blog; and guest forums by scientists, musicians and soldiers on the frontlines in Iraq. All this will now reach a broader audience in the United States and around the world.

This month we mark the 156th anniversary of the first issue of The New York Times. Our long, distinguished history is rooted in a commitment to innovation, experimentation and constant change. All three themes were plainly evident in the skillful execution of TimesSelect; they will be on full display as NYTimes.com becomes entirely open.

Sincerely,

Vivian Schiller
Senior Vice President & General Manager
NYTimes.com

(not a post about the New England Patriots)

I love Steve Almond, author. I adore his short stories - the way he exposes the secret evil side of relationships that everyone experiences some time (admit it! If not you're not the evil one, you know someone who is - and you're thinking of their name right now). I even enjoyed the saccharine "Which Brings Me to You" and the inexplicable "Candyfreak" (hey, it's a book, there's candy involved.. what's not to love?). Once, when I was having an extremely bad day, I came across a signed copy of one of his books. The inscription said: Desire is the engine of human life. Gun it, Gun it! And the whole day turned around.
I even enjoy his baby blog, Baby Daddy (every parent thinks their baby is facinating)

SO, I was all a tingle that he had a new book. Off to the bookstore with a spring in my step was I. I cruise the store.. there it is on the new release table! I eagerly pick it up and am skimming the blurbs on back... which went something like: blah blah blah, blah blah blah... Red Sox hater. UM... HOLD THE PHONE! Red Sox hater?!?! I almost flung the book away. How was this possible? How had I missed this? The angst, the shocking disappointment began to set in. I can not buy this book. Damn it! There is an essay on the Oprah book club in here! I am bound to adore it**.. waaaaa..

I get home and fire up Google. Not only is he a Red Sox hater, he's referred to as Red Sox Antichrist... something to do with to a misguided loyalty to the Oakland A's (ahem - 2003 ALDS, cough cough). Oh, this is appalling. Since he "understands" loyalty, he'll have to understand that I can't buy his book. You can't be a Red Sox hater in Red Sox Nation and skate by unscathed. Blood is thicker than Almond Joy!

** it's fantastic that people are reading because of the Oprah book club, but still if it doesn't pain you to see Oprah's Book Club: East of Eden or Oprah's Book Club: Anna Karenina, you're love of reading isn't inborn.

I had the misfortune of watching some daytime tv this morning. Good grief...

MSNBC - a so called news station (NEWS!), had a story that droned on for 10 minutes: Britney Spears Comeback: is she out of touch?

switched the channel and it was

Usher (the rap guy) cooking with Martha Stewart. Holy crap.. what is going on? When they started dancing in the kitchen, I flipped the channel again.. to

Rachel Ray - whose guest was Teri Hatcher. Rachel Ray writes cookbooks, yes? Teri Hatcher doesn't eat.. how does this makes sense?

The only saving grace was Susan Sarandon on the Today show. She was on to plug what looks like a ridiculously stupid movie that would seem to be beneath her. The conversation veered into her activism. She launched into a great speech, which I'm paraphrasing:

I came of age at that time, where if you had half a brain or half a heart, you were active.... in the late 60's, early 70's you thought you could change things. We stopped a war, there was segregation in the south... you had news programs were you actually saw what was going on, unlike now where you don't see things that are happening

at this point she gazed around around the room at the people behind the cameras and you could almost hear Al Roker choke.

Fantastic!

I know I've been a bad, bad blogger, but an article in The Economist (sub. required) really sent me over the edge.

Up in arms: Why tighten the rules right in hunting season?

Let me summarize... gun control opponents in PA are horrified to discover that the database used for instant background checks for gun purchases will be down for 4 days over labor day weekend for an upgrade.

because research showed that September gun sales were slowest during the first week of the month, which also marks the beginning of hunting season. But sportsmen's groups, gun dealers and some state legislators have hit the roof. Labour Day weekend is a peak shopping moment for camouflage gear and boots, if not for guns; next week's planned promotions and sales will be difficult to postpone, and business will presumably just flow away to neighbouring states. Joseph Scarnati, the president of the state Senate, has condemned the shutdown as back-door gun control by “liberals from Philadelphia”.

Are you fucking kidding me?

Know what else this database is used for?

background checks on teachers and child-care workers before the start of the school year. The system is also used by state courts, law-enforcement agencies, the immigration service and the Megan's Law registry that keeps track of sex offenders.

So... horrifying and unacceptable that people may have to wait a couple of days to buy a gun, but background checks for people who work with children, courts inquiries and tracking sex offenders.. no biggie, as long as we can buy our guns!

How important is this to gun people?

Two dozen gun-dealers have filed suit, and are hoping the Commonwealth Court will grant a last-minute injunction to postpone the upgrade. A hearing is scheduled for August 31st. The gun-dealers say the system can be upgraded without taking it offline completely. Or, they suggest, how about doing the work at night?

Because no one knows software like a gun dealer.

About two blocks from my abode is a little league park. Very cute, you may say. Well.. I'm tired of the little league terrors. 10 - 13 year old boys on bikes. See the little leaguers have found something new to entertain themselves now that school has ended... and yes, it involves eggs. It seems one of the great thrills of young boyhood is to reek havoc on the poor innocent cars in the neighborhood by blasting them with eggs.

Now the first time this happened, I was mildly annoyed.. but boys will be boys, right? Perhaps this is better than my childhood boy next door who would go fishing, then put lit firecrackers inside the fish just to watch them blow up (Hi Mark!).

The second coming of the egging didn't really go over well with me, nor the did the third. In case you don't know, if you are unaware that egg on your car when it sits outside for 8, 10 hours in the sun or even overnight, hardens on your car like a shellac, unmovable by any natural force. My favorite (and I'm guess the boys like this, too) is when it drips down the side of the car slowly, so slowly that the broken shards of the shell get shellaced onto the side of your car and hang there menacingly. You know what happens when you arrive at the car wash in such a condition? They laugh at you. They say: oh, that's not coming off, even with the super wash. Do you know what it's like to be known at the car wash? The snear at me now... because if I'm spending $22 for the super wash (exterior only!), they're getting that egg off for me even if it takes special hand toweling after the super wash.

In the span of two weeks and 4 super washes, I've gone from boys will be boys to 'I want justice!", 'I want punishment!', "I want these houligans off the streets!' and I will show no mercy... yes, I'm talking about the shenanigans of pre-teen boys.

I've officially become uncool.

I recently received a "offer" from the folks who maintain my employer's 401(k) plan. It seems, for a fee, someone can help me manage the money stashed away in the plan. The offer has large headlines, bright colors.. it's screaming: you need us to help you! Their big pitch says:

Based on our records:

You will need $X per year in retirement. (where X is an amount I'm not disclosing publicly. The letter had an actual amount)

Based on your current savings rate, you will have $X + $2,000 per year in retirement.

If we manage your account, you could expect $X - 10,000 per year in retirement.

So... if I read this correctly (and I read it several times because I couldn't believe this was actually sent to me):

A. At my current savings rate, I will have more than I need per year in retirement (not that they tell me what age they are using as my retirement age or how long they estimate I'll live).

B. If I allow them to manage the account, I will have $10,000 less PER YEAR of retirement.

Even better was the bar chart on the following page showing the same statistics. Visual proof of their ineptitude.

Holy need an data reviewer before spending a ton of money to send out color brouchures, Batman.

What are you supposed to do when you Google someone and the list of links relating to people with your search quest include:

a sex offender
a seemingly different wanted criminal
a high school psychologist
a guy who went to a local university and now works in the area..

I'll tell you what you do: you hope to hell for #4

T-shirts I've seen recently:

SILF (with a picture of a sandwich) - really?

My favorite juvenile humor of the year, however, was the t-shirt declaring:

I'm not Mr. Right, but I'll fuck you 'til he shows up.

Well, duh. Ladies, do we need a t-shirt to tell us this? I'd have more respect for the t-shirt that said: I'll fuck you til you try to move the relationship forward then I'll vanish like a scared rabbit. Clearly I'm an immature idiot and what you see is what you get.

The amazing thing about the guy with the Mr. Right t-shirt on was he appeared to have a girlfriend.

Anna Nicole Smith's death is the biggest news of the day? CNN has been covering it non-stop. The story is larger than the story about the Palestinians reaching a deal on the government on both the Boston Globe AND the New York Times! The New York Times!

What are we coming to?

Somebody scrape me up off the floor. I don't know whether to laugh or cry because this held the City of Boston hostage today:

It seems that suspicious devices were spotted on bridges, overpasses, in subway stations and other public places. The devices -- described ominously as being "composed of electronic circuit boards with LED lights attached" -- were shaped like little glowing figures who seemed angry.

Boston Police, State Police, Bomb Squads, road closures, T shut down, traffic, traffic and more traffic ensued. Legal action is threatened. WHY?

a guerilla marketing campaign for the Adult Swim TV show "Aqua Teen Hunger Force

The boxy characters are named Err and Ignignokt and appear to be raising their middle fingers and giving obscene gestures. Err is described on the "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" website as "rebellious and angry."

I HAVE to share.
But I'm still starting up a boycott of this show. But hey, let's face it, the chances that I would be watching something called Aqua Teen Hunger Force are absolute zero, so don't know how much good that will do.

Attack of the Mooninites
Suspicious packages part of Turner Broadcasting marketing campaign
Turner tricksters should pay

None of this means I'm forgetting about you, Michael Ross, Boston City Councilor, and your parking violations. For shame!

I just broke my iPod headphones.. by stepping on them.

Now, you may say: Amy, why were they on the floor?

To which I reply: oh, shut up.

Regular readers may have been following my gadget travails: how a month ago my printer, my palm pilot and my laptop died in the same weekend (and then I refused to touch my iPod for a few days). Then the laptop had to be sent away for repair as it was still under extended warranty. After 3 weeks the laptop has finally been returned to me with the warranty claim denied because they claim "impact damage" proving it was dropped. I never dropped it! This is just the background to the chapter:

Because the necessary repair to my laptop would come to approximately half the cost of just buying a new one, I began looking into sucking it up and buying new (needless to say, sans the useless Circuit City extended warranty). I began my research 3 days ago, completely oblivious to the fact that Vista was coming out this Monday. Apparently, according to some, I've just emerged from a coma. Anyway, the release of Vista on Tuesday means that all new PC's will come with the new uber OS. This also means PC's are not being built with XP and haven't been for awhile now (yes, still wiping the crust out of my eyes). The new Vista PC's can't be sold until Tuesday, and the old XP PC's have been sold out on clearance. This brings about the bizarre scenario where it's nearly impossible to buy a PC this weekend, the one weekend that I have decided to buy one.

If that isn't bad enough: I don't WANT Vista. We're talking about a product that has LeBron James as a spokesperson (I only know this because I read about it online. I have Tivo, I don't watch commercials). LeBron James? As if he knows anything about OS's. All my research suggests Vista isn't that big an improvement and has conflicts with security software like McAfee and Norton. I already HAVE my McAfee for 2007! Microsoft expects us to rely on the security features in Vista? HA! The entire PC security industry exists because of security flaws in Microsoft products. And you know I'm going to shell out for a new printer, too, and that new printer's drivers probably won't work with Vista and I'll be pissed.

I am NOT pleased... I'm going to have to either fix the old laptop or suck it up and wait some period of time for the bugs to be worked out of Vista, but I did enjoy my jaunt through Best Buy. They had no laptops on display, they had no capability of actually selling any laptops, thus there was no point in the salespeople stalking me through the store. I cruised in and out, and the people in the PC department were just standing around eating candy.

Wait! Don't buy Windows Vista!
Piercing Together Vista
The Insider's Guide to Windows Vista

Not only has my laptop still not been repaired and returned to me... not only is the warranty most likely going to not cover the repair since they claim there is "impact damage", which I'm sure means they are going to claim I dropped it (not so!), all of this AND I'm about to watch George W. Bush give the State of the Union... in HD. What could be more horrifying?

NBC Reanimates 'Year Without a Santa Claus'

I believe this monstrosity will be airing this evening. A boycott must go into effect because I am not going to watch this year after year. It must be banned.

Buy the original! ... there IS no substitute!

It may not be as well-known as "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" or "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town," but among Christmas-special fans of a certain age, "The Year Without a Santa Claus" has a definite cult following.

Someone at NBC must like the Rankin-Bass production too, because the network has greenlit a live-action remake of the special, in which a burned-out Santa Claus decides to take a year off, throwing Christmas into chaos.

Production on the two-hour movie is scheduled to begin next week in Louisiana. John Goodman ("Monsters, Inc.," "Roseanne") will star as Santa Claus and will be joined in the cast by Carol Kane, Ethan Suplee, Eddie Griffin and "Saturday Night Live" alumnus Chris Kattan.

The story kicks off when a devious elf named Sparky (Kattan) tries to convince Santa that he has to keep up with our materialistic times. Reluctant to do so, and convinced no one believes in him anymore, Santa instead decides to just skip Christmas this year.

The decision shocks two of Santa's most loyal elves, Jingle (Suplee, "My Name Is Earl") and Jangle (Griffin, "Date Movie," "Undercover Brother"), who head to South Town, USA, in an effort to find some kids who still believe in their boss. Their quest is complicated by Heat Miser and Snow Miser, the warring sons of Mother Nature (Kane, "The Princess Bride," "Taxi").

Heat Miser and Snow Miser, memorable characters voiced by George S. Irving and Dick Shawn in the 1974 animated special, haven't been cast yet.

Ron Underwood ("City Slickers") will direct "The Year Without a Santa Claus." Mark Wolper (TNT's "Salem's Lot," "Penn & Teller: Bulls**t!") is executive producing.

Even before I arrived at work today.. before my 2 hour long 9:30am meeting with will accomplish nothing but bore us to death - a meeting so ridiculous that people laugh out loud at the project manager (when a PM says things like: planning makes projects inefficient, how can you not laugh?) - a meeting in which we will be told our "velocity" is so low that at this rate, our Feb. release will be in Aug. , yet "we can't go any faster" - holy moly, stop the madness..... yes, before I even got to work today I realized that someone has a case of the Mondays, and that person was me.

because banks and other companies are stupid and inept.

See... on 10/30 I put the old mortgage check in the mail. Days passed, the check wasn't cashed. More days passed.. the check wasn't cashed. On 11/10, I called the mortgage company and asked: what's up? They said (as they usually do): we don't know. We haven't received it. Sigh.. since on 11/15 the payment is considered late and it's now been 10 business days since the original check was mailed (and it only had to go 2 hours from my home), one can assume it's lost, right? I should send another check, right? Being late with a mortgage payment doesn't seem like a good idea, right?

So on Friday I sent off another check. Yesterday: they cashed the first check. And since they'd also received the second check, they went right ahead and cashed that, too. Yikes!
But you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to transfer money from my emergency savings (yes, it's true I'm one of those people you read about who have 6 month salary in emergency savings). My point: get thyself some savings - try it! Life is so much less stressful when you have a cushion like that.

Things that are needed at my house for the past 4 days: milk and cotton balls

Times I have gone to the store in the last 4 days for these items: 3... 3!!

Number of contains or milk and/or cotton balls purchased: 0...0!!!

Amount spent on other, un-needed groceries and assorted stuff: $85 (but I did finally find a lipstick that I like)

Why is it that we can go to the store for one needed item and return home with everything except that one item?

because at least I am A. not this guy and B. wasn't one of the poor saps in the room who had to sit through this without laughing. There really is only so much a person should have to endure.

So proud of itself for successfully merging with MBNA, Bank of America takes one of the most beautiful U2 songs and changes the lyrics so it's about . . . credit cards. And it's maybe meant to be a joke. But the singer takes himself so seriously, that it's not a joke.

I take a break from election night fun to bring you my reality show idea: 2 people at work who clearly can't communicate: me and the guy who told me I wasn't fat last week.

Today's episode/phone call, during which the most bizarre sounds were coming through the phone:

Me: what is that sound?
Him: my zipper
Me: what?! {I'm thinking why is the phone next to his zipper while he's talking to me? Why is he zipping? }
Him: my zipper and I can't get it up
Me: { in my head: OMG! I can't even mock that }
Him: got it! I had to pack my laptop up to a meeting out of the office
Me: oh

Is that wacky or do I just have a dirty mind??

Yesterday I had this conversation with a co-worker:

Co-worker: why do you always have to ask why?
Me: because I want to understand.

Is that so bad? But really he is asking me why I always question the status quo and the answer is: because I don't accept "we''ve always done it that way, so we should continue to do it that way' . Is that so wrong?

it was dark right at 5pm. That means winter is right around the corner. I hate it when it's dark at 5pm. How long til spring?

Yesterday, sitting in my cube in the middle of the vast cube farm, I heard a clicking sound. Click Click Click Click Click Click. Only one thing, in my experience, creates such a sound: nail clippers. My brain attempts to reconcile the sound with the fact that I'm in the office. It can't be.. who would do such a thing? I narrow the direction down and decide to investigate. As I cruise by the cube where the offensive sound is coming from, I glance in. There I see a grown man with a pair of nail clippers and a pile of nail clippings on his desk. I suppose I could be grateful he wasn't cutting his toe nails, but it seems like a hollow victory.

and I'm at work. This just isn't right.

Except I just checked and the Tigers are up 3-0 over Oakland. If they win, they will be up 3-0 in the series and we'll get to hear my favorite phrase: the only team to ever come back from 3-0 to win a 7 game series is.... the 2004 Boston Red Sox.

weeeeeeee..... go Tigers.

The other day I was lazing on the couch going through my mail when I came across the latest and greatest Bank of America privacy policy. It was a cute little approximately 6 page pamphlet. I stared at the pages.. why was it so long? How hard is it to say what it should say (that they don't give out, or worse, sell your personal information)?

That would be because they do, in fact, give out people's information to marketers (this would be soon after the part where they say their customers privacy is their priority - ha)

we may share any of the categories of Customer Information with companies that work for us in order to provide marketing support and other services, such as a service provider that distributes marketing materials. These companies may help us to market our own products and services, or other products and services that we believe may be of interest to you. Please note that some of our own companies may provide marketing support and other services for us as well.

But even more concerning to me was this:

We occasionally receive medical or health information from a customer if, for example, a customer applies for insurance from us. We also may obtain information from insurance support organizations not affiliated with Bank of America that prepare and provide reports to others as well as to us. We do not share medical or health information among our companies, except to maintain or collect on accounts, process transactions, service customer requests or perform insurance functions, to the extent permitted by law.

Great that they don't share health information outside the company (except to maintain or collect on accounts.. how is health information relevant to either?), but you'll notice the above doesn't limit them to collecting information only on people applying for insurance, it says they can collect it from outside companies, period. What is Bank of America doing collecting health information?

Inquiring minds want to know.

p.s. you can maintain some control of what information they spread about you here: www.bankofamerica.com/privacy

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You've probably heard of Michael Noer's ludicris article, Don't Marry a Career Woman (an article so ridiculous that the pussies at Forbes took it down, only to put it back up when mocked mercilessly for being said pussies. It now has it's own section with a counterpoint article, Don't Mary a Lazy Man).

We're talking about an article with the following lines:

the more successful she is the more likely she is to grow dissatisfied with you.

And gives the following interesting tidbits:

If they quit their jobs and stay home with the kids, they will be unhappy They will be unhappy if they make more money than you do You will be unhappy if they make more money than you do You will be more likely to fall ill your house will be dirtier When your spouse works outside the home, chances increase they'll meet someone they like more than you

I've read a number of diatribes on how this is sexist and anti-woman, but what I kept thinking as I read it was: why is he giving the guy a pass? Yo u're more likely to fall ill if your wife works? Learn how to take care of yourself without being nagged! House is dirtier because your wife spends time at work? Learn how the vacume cleaner works! Afraid your wife will meet someone more interesting than you at work? Stop sitting on the couch, adjusting yourself watching sports 24/7. Pick up a book, read a newspaper. Be more interesting. Men need to step up their game to keep up with women, not sit around complaining about the lives woman are making for themselves.

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So we have a new manager at my company, who "management style" is "nuturing". This person feels the need to explain everything to you as if you're 5 years old, and seems to think this is a good thing.

She just explained to me that sometimes you have to figure out the best way of communicating with people.. some people like email, some prefer the phone. For busy people, it may be easier to catch them early in the morning or after 6. etc, etc.

I stood with my mouth open. I wanted to reply: no way! So that's how you do it! Seriously, does she think we've never been in an office before, does she really think people who are more than 6 months out of college need instructions like this?

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The Big Dig is no longer just a minor (ok, major) traffic re-routing and near constant construction inducing, political and corruption shroued inconvienence to people who traverse the City of Boston... for last night it killed someone.

Several of the 40-by-20-foot concrete slabs fell at about 11 p.m. when a metal tie back gave way, killing Milena Delvalle, 38, of Jamaica Plain, police said. Her husband Angel Delvalle, 46, managed to crawl out of the crumpled car and was treated at Massachusetts General Hospital for minor injuries and released around 4 a.m.

The metal tie was anchored in the concrete ceiling with epoxy, but not affixed to a metal support rail, as was done with ceiling panels in other tunnels, including those on Interstate 93 and other sections of I-90, Amorello said. Certain site locations prevented builders from using the support bar, Amorello said, without going into specifics.

Why should you care? If you live in the Boston area, it could very easily have been you! If you never grace the roads of this wonderful city, you should care because:

The episode was the latest in a series of problems for tunnels involved in the $14.6 billion Big Dig project.

$14.6 billion of mostly federal money. Which means if you pay taxes in the US, you're paying for this disgrace of a highway system. Today I heard engineers go on and on about the technical wonders of the tunnels. Yeah? The Sumner (1934) and Callahan (1961) tunnels don't seem to have these problems. But this new crap does. Oh.. is this the first issue with the Big Dig? OHH. noo..

In April 2005, one day after federal officials declared the Big Dig's tunnels safe, rocks and other debris rained down from an overhead vent in the I-93 southbound tunnel in downtown Boston and damaged at least five vehicles, including an ambulance transporting a patient.

The debris, which witnesses described as ranging from pebbles to rocks smaller than a golf ball, fell near the Purchase Street exit.

It was not clear this morning whether the latest ceiling collapse was related to water leaks that have plagued the tunnels.

In March 2005, Big Dig officials launched a survey of the roadway after a chunk of the material fell onto the I-93 breakdown lane. They reported then that water leaks in the Big Dig had damaged fireproofing material in at least 40 areas along the tunnel's ceiling. Most of the damaged areas, which typically measure about 2 square feet, were located near where the tunnel walls meet the roof.

Big Dig officials stressed then that the tunnel was safe.

In May, prosecutors charged six current and former employees of a concrete supplier with fraud for allegedly concealing that some concrete delivered to the Big Dig was not freshly mixed. State and federal officials said that long-term maintenance, not immediate safety, was the likely impact.

In 2004, a wall panel sprung an eight-inch hole, flooding the northbound Interstate 93 tunnel and causing a 10-mile backup. That led to the discovery of 169 wall panels in need of some repairs.

Separately, inspectors also found about 1,716 spots in the Big Dig tunnels, where water seeped and dripped from the juncture of tunnel roofs and walls. Officials have said the leaks pose no threat to the safety of people driving through the tunnels.

and...