Day 23

I had a meeting with my new financial advisor this afternoon. Hopefully this will work out better than it did with my last financial advisor, who convinced me to sell all my Apple shares at 166 on his firm conviction that the dreaded "double dip" pullback I kept hearing about was just around the corner. Apple shares closed at 210 today.

I don't think I'd enjoy being a financial advisor. Your job is to make rational decisions about people's financial future in a world that has become increasingly irrational. It's all just a guess, but still you're held accountable whenever you guess wrong. I've just about given up on trying to predict the markets myself. Stock prices certainly aren't behaving very rationally. Prices continue to go up at the same time that volume continues to decline. It's all very discouraging. Two years ago I felt quite comfortable about being able to retire whenever I felt like it. I managed to convince myself that I was just working for fun. They keep saying the financial meltdown is behind us, but I still have this sinking feeling that I'm going to have to keep working forever.  Like BB King says, "The Thrill is Gone."

To improve my spirits, I stopped by Culwell & Son on the way home from my meeting to do a little shopping. What a fabulous store. You can actually buy clothes that aren't made in China here. I'd probably enjoy wearing nice clothes even more if I had any reason whatsoever to dress up. The dogs certainly don't care what I look like. Now that everything has migrated to the Internet, I don't even go to business meetings any more. These days I just answer e-mail.

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