Steve Winwood Anyone?

Long time no blog. Okay, that's trite and all. But for the record, I've never used that statement in any of my postings to date.

My reasons for not blogging in almost a month have to do with work and play. I've been working extra so that I can play more. Normally I try to work an 8 to 8 1/2 hour day, earning comp time at a very slow rate. But since Doc. B. and I have uncharacteristically had two week-long trips planned within a month of each other, I've had to step up the extra credit at work.

Hilton Head was the first trip and it was wonderful. It was with my mom, dad, sister and her three kids - my very cute nephew and nieces (For the record, I have two more nephews in New Jersey but they were not in attendance). We all had fun flying kites on the beach and enjoying a Japanese "cook in front of you" meal. And I do have one synchronicity from the trip that I plan to publish at a later date, once I get permission from the Blue Mailbox Post Master General. So look for that in the coming days once the editing and approval process has occurred (NOTE TO POST MASTER GENERAL: keep an eye on your e-mail, I'll be sending it to you within the week).

The next trip is to Guatemala. I've been brewing Guatemalan coffee, conversing with Guatemalan-baby-adopting females, and brushing up on my Spanish slang ever since we knew we were going. So when we return from that trip, expect a blog post for sure - it's coming up in May.

In the meantime, back to Steve Winwood. First, let me say that Steve has been in my life since he was with "Traffic" and "Blind Faith." And to be honest with you, I hadn't thought about him in a while and hadn't heard his music in months. But Friday night, as Doc. B. and I were listening to "The Coffee House" on Dish Network, Allison Krauss came on to sing her rendition of "Can't Find My Way Home." Doc. B. said "I like this song." I said, "well, it's a Steve Winwood song but I don't have this version on iTunes. I think I may have some other artist singing it so I'll download it for you when I make you another 'mixed CD.'" For those of you who spent time listening to music in the 80's, you know that making a "mixed tape" for a friend or potential girlfriend/boyfriend was a pretty cool thing to do. So I made note of it, and moved on to other things.

Then this morning we went to the gym together (since we're trying to be in at least moderately good shape for our trip to Central America). We got on matching eliptical trainers and tuned our headphones in to the music and t.v. choices. About half way through the workout, Doc. B. motioned to switch to channel one on my headset. She mouthed to me "I like this song; who is it?" It was Steve Winwood singing "The Finer Things." I told Doc. B. that I had this song on cassette tape, but not on iTunes. Doc. B. reminded me that this was okay because there is, believe it or not, still a cassette player in one of our two vehicles.

So when we got home, I ventured upstairs to find my box of old cassette tapes that hadn't been touched since a few years after I tossed all of my 8-track tapes. And sure enough, right on top of the stack, was the above pictured "mixed tape." It was recorded over 20 years ago (on 10/18/86) by my friend Tina. What an awesome gift that rarely sees the light of day anymore. Oh and props to Leona since I'm sure she let Tina use her massive 1980's stereo system to create the mixed tape!

So I set the tape out on the kitchen counter for Doc. B. to play on the way to work tomorrow. Then it was time to finish up the laundry so I turned on Dish Network's "Sirius Spectrum" to listen to some music while I folded clothes. I couldn't believe it. Guess what? The entire weekend on Sirius Spectrum was a tribute to Steve Winwood. Apparently he has a new album out called "Nine Lives" and the weekend was dedicated to playing some of his old music "mixed" in with some of his new tunes.

Side Note: does it count that there's a really nice guy at the gym that I finally introduced myself to who told me his name is Steve?

I think I'll count it...more synchronicity to add to the list...

Economic Indicators

I'm pretty sure we're headed out of the recession, or "economic slowdown," that we're reportedly not in. How do I, a failure in finance 101, know this? Because of three very important fiscal discoveries I made this past week. And if you're reading this and you live below the Mason-Dixon Line, read that "physical" discoveries.

As I've previously mentioned on my blog, I usually stumble upon at least a penny a day. Somebodies spare change falls out of their car, purse or pocket and I find it. This has been the case ever since I stopped driving to work and started riding MARTA and walking/jogging more. Sometimes I find nickels and dimes, rarely a quarter, and once I found a 20 dollar bill. But until a few days ago, it had been over a week since I found any money at all. I figured that people were being more cautious with their cash and acting more carefully when pulling their hands out of their pockets. I was beginning to feel the pinch and was somewhat stressed about it too. I kept saying to myself, in true obsessive-compulsive fashion, "it's been days since I've picked up any cash on the street." So you can imagine my joy when, after days without finding a single cent, I jogged across a dime! This was my first sign that the economy was headed in the right direction.

The second economic indicator was an empty zip-lock drug baggie. For those of you who don't live in or around a "hood," the picture above includes the said bag for educational purposes. I photographed it, next to the precious dime I found, with my camera phone since my new Casio digital camera's supposed rechargeable battery died. It's not a very clear photo, but Casio says they intend to make this up to me. I called them on Sunday morning and a very nice gentleman assured me that this was a common problem with my camera's battery and that they would be sending me out a replacement battery post-haste. When I asked him if post-haste meant that the battery would arrive before my vacation next week, he told me he wasn't sure. but anyway, back to the drug bag. I decided that this was a pretty good economic indicator that people were again spending good hard earned/begged cash on dope. I plan to place the baggie in our recycling container and see if they'll take it.

And the final thing I noticed is that our government is now getting savvy in its hiring practices. Look at this. USA Jobs, a federal employment website, has an opening for an Innovative Finance Specialist. Clearly the government has realized that we need innovation when it comes to our nation's finances. Either they lost an innovative finance specialist and are trying desperately to fill those shoes/pumps OR they've just now created this new position and are looking for just the right person who perhaps recently lost his or her job on Wall Street.

By my accounts, if Al Gore had been in office for the past 8 years, our economy wouldn't have been a problem because he would have made use of "fuzzy math" and "lock boxes."

P.S.
Happy B-day to all of you with April B-days including Mrs. T, Kali, Tequila and of course Mimi!