"Murphy was an optimist!"
Today’s home improvement project complete January 27, 2013 8:14 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, Family, House, Of Being DadI was visited by Tim Allen!
And now I can proceed with sanding, cleaning, staining and sealing the bay window.
2commentsWhat time is it? January 27, 2013 11:14 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, HouseWhy it is Home Depot time!
add a commentLet the decluttering begin! January 27, 2013 10:38 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Communications, Daily Life, Gadgets, Hardware, History, TechnologyI am not a hoarder! I have grandiose dreams, great plans, a vivid imagination, and a vision of the future. Well, maybe I’ve held onto a little too much junk.
As horrible as that seems, there are a few treasures:
9:07pm last night I did say to Cathy, "I am willing to admit that I may have a problem."
1 comment so farStaining the bay window January 27, 2013 10:28 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, HouseWe installed a bay window on the front of the house a little less than a year ago. They warned that we should paint or stain it immediately. I haven’t stained wood since I was a child so I hesitated. We picked out a stain and waited. And waited. The children played in the window. They dried their paintings in the window. Walked their muddy feet in the window. The dogs with their long nails climbed in the window. The cat scratched in the window. And now, I proceed with damage control…a sander and a prayer that the wood is more solid and less veneer. Today the process of staining begins which means turning the bay window into a clean room in a house that has dog hair, cat hair, and human hair floating through the air like fog.
I’ll resist the meth jokes. Yo.
add a commentAlone again January 25, 2013 10:42 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily LifeGood day goes bad in 30 seconds.
add a commentFrom the mouths of babes January 24, 2013 9:21 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, Deep Thoughts, Evan, Family, From the mouths of babes, PhilosophyEvan, 7 years old: "A boy in my class said that all the money his dad had was $2. And his dad gave it to him!"
This could be a seven year old misinterpretation. For example, I have $5 in my wallet right now but that’s it and I could see my seven year old saying, "This is Dad’s last $5 and he gave it to me!" The sad truth is that most of us are one paycheck away from being homeless. Good fiscal planning suggests keeping three to six paychecks in savings but if $2 is all you have and your son needs that for lunch then saving anything is going to be impossible. The problem snowballs. Let’s say the $2 dad wants to feed his family and didn’t turn to Fish. Instead he knows he gets paid on Friday and since this is Thursday, he skates a check at the grocery hoping it won’t clear until after his deposit. But the bank processes the check first. Now $2 dad is faced with a $36 fee from the bank plus a $25 fee from the grocery store. $61 vanishes from the budget which is already not making it. Now the next pay period will be even harder. This is the poverty cycle.
I read something astounding yesterday.
The world’s 100 richest people earned a stunning total of $240 billion in 2012 – enough money to end extreme poverty worldwide four times over
[Source, RT.com, World’s 100 richest earned enough in 2012 to end global poverty 4 times over]
Read that closely. One hundred people could change the world.
"The richest 1 percent has increased its income by 60 percent in the last 20 years with the financial crisis accelerating rather than slowing the process."
[Source, RT.com, World’s 100 richest earned enough in 2012 to end global poverty 4 times over]
More power to them! I would love to increase my income by 60%. I would love to taste the lifestyles of the rich and famous. However, read it closely. "[T]he financial crisis accelerating rather than slowing the process." Why? Because in the past 20 years the tax laws and other laws have been skewed in favor of the rich. It’s the opposite of Robin Hood. The rich are robbing from the poor to give to the rich. Cutting off welfare programs will not suddenly make the poor responsible and bring them out of poverty; cutting off welfare programs will make the poor dead…which I suppose does end poverty.
I did not mean to politicize this. My point was that a lot of people, normal people, are struggling. It is amazing that 100 people in the world could dramatically change that 4 fold. And yes, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and others are already donating their wealth for good. I hope we can reach a point where no child ever has to say "$2 is all my dad has" again.
add a commentDeep Thoughts January 24, 2013 8:05 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Deep Thoughts, Philosophyadd a commentIt’s better to feel pain than nothing at all.
Lost January 23, 2013 10:45 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily LifeI feel like I’ve lost my reason for doing the things I do. I have never felt so empty in my life.
1 comment so farSolo January 22, 2013 9:30 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily LifeWe are born into the world alone
We die alone.
Of Being Dad January 22, 2013 10:44 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Amy, Daily Life, Family, Of Being DadNothing makes you feel so bad as making your child cry. Today I lost my temper with my sweet daughter. I brought her to tears and I escalated the incident far beyond reasonable. Ugh. None of it was reasonable. She had a bad interaction with her younger brother and my parental response was effectively to treat her the same (no worse) than she’d treated her brother while telling her not to act like me. Dad fail in a major way and the hollowness in my chest aches.
So, can it get worse? When I get to the office, I open Skype to see that just minutes before our altercation, she’d sent me a message: "I LOVE U" (the LOVE was a picture of a heart) I’m a cad.
add a commentEmergency Braking January 19, 2013 12:35 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Of InterestThis is cool but gives me butterflies in my stomach watching it.
add a commentDeep Thoughts January 17, 2013 9:25 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Deep Thoughts, PhilosophyYou know things are tight when you feel like you HAVE to play the lottery.
add a commentOf Grasshoppers January 16, 2013 7:29 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, Of Grasshoppers, PhilosophyStudent: I am mentally exhausted.
Master: Give your mind a rest.
Mentally Speaking January 10, 2013 8:08 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, Health, MentalIs the depression low or high?
add a commentFrom the mouths of babes January 8, 2013 5:27 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Cathy, Daily Life, Family, From the mouths of babesCathy: "Spit the cat out!"
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