Day 597

The big news of the day has to be the 500 point drop in the market. I sold some things; held on to some other things; and bought an inverse fund that goes up whenever the DOW goes down. Will these strategies help to stem the carnage? Lord only knows. I've just about given up on predicting the stock market. The market seems to be totally driven by current events these days. It's all amazingly fickle. If anything good happens tomorrow, the world will breathe a collective sigh of relief and the market might go up 400 points. Who knows? Of course, if tomorrow's jobs report is dismal, as many expect, the market will inevitably drop even further. Whatever happens, there's a good chance that we will all be selling our stuff on eBay and picking up aluminum cans on the side of the road in another ten years.

The dream of substantial passive income seems as illusive as ever. I think I made three cents from Google Adsense today. I seem to have thousands of Twitter followers writing YA vampire novels, but I wonder if many of these aspiring authors are actually making money? My favorite Borders Books closed recently because the company went bankrupt. Half the Kindle books I see are given away for free. I have one author friend whose last book sold over a million copies and even he isn't rich. I keep hearing all these Field of Dreams people say that if you are doing what you truly love, the money will come. Maybe. In my own little world, the evidence says otherwise. The people I know personally who are doing really well all have jobs they hate.

It's hard to decide what car to take to the airport to pick up Janet later this evening. An old, brittle rubber hose could easily crack in the old Land Rover and leave me stranded on the side of the road. On the other hand, the heat might fry a computerized sub-system in the new Land Rover and leave me stranded on the side of the road. I'm really ready for this extended heat wave to be over. Even the simplest things seem twice as hard when it's 110 degrees outside.

At least it's Friday tomorrow. I've got the trash hauled out to the street already and I'm ready for anything.

Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day