Go back and read that sentence again and laugh your ass off.  When you’re done, keep reading.

Ok back with me?  Good, let’s continue.

So I went to the aisle in Wal-Mart and there weren’t any ShamWows on the shelf.  From there I made my way to the Wal-Mart Customer Service Counter to see if they had any in the back.

The lady was getting ready to go on her break.  I asked her if there were anymore ShamWows in the back and she paged someone in the back.  She asked the question, and I swear was only on the phone for 5 seconds.  She then hung up and said there weren’t any back there.

WHAT IS WAL-MART DOING TO THEIR EMPLOYEES?  DO THEY HAVE A FLIPPIN’ COMPUTER ATTACHED TO THEIR BRAINS?  Isn’t that quite the coincidence…

As I walked out the store, this scene from “O Brother Where Art Thou” popped into my head.

The sale of antidepressants and antianxiety drugs is widespread. In New York their use became common after 9/11. It continued through and, I hypothesize, may have contributed to, the high-flying, wildly imprudent Wall Street of the ’00s. We look for reasons for the crash and there are many, but I wonder if Xanax, Zoloft and Klonopin, when taken by investment bankers, lessened what might have been normal, prudent anxiety, or helped confuse prudent anxiety with baseless, free-floating fear. Maybe Wall Street was high as a kite and didn’t notice. Maybe that would explain Bear Sterns, and Merrill, and Citi.

I’m not so sure about that.  Hollywood has always glorified the financial sector’s decadent lifestyle.  You know the old saying…Sex, drugs, and Balance Sheets.

Here’s what made me sit up and notice:

Five weeks ago, when I asked a Wall Street titan what one should do to be safe in the future, he took me aback with the concreteness of his advice, and its bottom-line nature. Everyone should try to own a house, he said, no matter how big or small, but it has to have some land, on which you should learn how to grow things. He also recommended gold coins, such as American Eagles. I went to the U.S. Mint website the next day, but there was a six-week wait due to high demand.

Well we’re on track with that advice.  We’re goin’ “Old MacDonald”. We’ve ordered some chickens, and we’ll be tilling up some of our backyard this weekend (weather permitting).

The thing is…why are we taking a Wall Street titan’s advice? Weren’t they part of the reason this happened?

I have had alot to post about actually, but that’s all in the past.  Looking forward, I’m going to keep my New Year’s Resolution and keep blogging!

Speaking My Mind, by Ronald Reagan

Interesting read so far.

I usually don’t make resolutions, but I’m going to this year.  So here goes…

• Relax more often
• Spend more time with my family
• Use my Palm Pilot
• Exercise the dog more and train her to catch frisbees
• Grow my freelance business
• The usual get more healthy become more spiritual stuff
• Post on this blog

I think that’ll keep me occupied the rest of the year.

My first thought was the contest that M&M ran in 2004 where you had to find the bags with colored M&Ms in them…maybe this was the opposite of that contest…

My second thought was to take a picture.  Seriously…how many times do you see an M&M that made it though the process but didn’t have quite all the pieces and parts?  It’s like a Frankenstein M&M…

So there it is in all it’s glory.  Click on the picture to see an bigger picture.  Lightbox effects rule!

I bet if that M&M were a character he’d be one of those bad ass M&Ms that had a black leather jacket, rode a motorcycle, and had tattoos on his shell.

My co-workers thought I was weird but who cares.  I bet they’ve never gotten one like that.  I’m keeping it.  I just can’t bring myself to eat it.