Day 1036

I'm trying to think of some intelligent questions to ask my financial advisor tomorrow when we have our quarterly meeting. I'm sure he's sick of me asking him why I'm still not back to even after the 2008 crash. I'm sure he's sick of me asking why stocks tend to go down after we buy them, rather than before. In fairness, my advisor keeps reminding me that my portfolio would look a little more solid if I wasn't continually taking money out to buy stuff. He thinks we are still doing pretty good, considering how the economy is doing both here and elsewhere. Maybe. I just remember a time when I was doing much, much better. It is simply irritating that a strategy that has worked for me for much of my adult life doesn't appear to work anymore. We'll see how tomorrow's meeting goes. Personally, I think investing has become almost indistinguishable from gambling.

I got my wish for another slow day. OK guys, that's enough. I was just kidding. You can start sending me work again. Why is it that freelancing or running a small business is always feast or famine? I am continually either too busy or not busy enough. I wish I knew how to strike a balance, but so far having just the right amount of work has eluded me. Even using the slow times to market myself has its perils. Usually there is such a time lag between marketing and actually seeing new assignments that the marketing efforts just create sharper peaks and valleys down the road somewhere.

I like stability and predictability. I know, for example, that today is the day for Dash's antigen shot. We do this every other Tuesday at 2 PM, year in and year out. Dash enjoys his trip to the vet and I"m never in a panic to get him there, because I know exactly what to expect. I wouldn't mind a bit if everything were this predictable. Maybe I would work on oil and gas projects on Mondays, design some websites on Tuesdays, do a little photography on Wednesdays, and so on. Life isn't like this though. In the real world, work is just moments of boredom, punctuated by moments of stress and panic.

I guess I'll watch the presidential debates this evening. All the pundits tend to describe these debates as if they were a wrestling match. You almost expect Michael Buffer to come out right before the debate begins and deliver his famous catchphrase Let's get ready to rumble. I expect that both sides will say that their man won right after the debate is over. That's the way these things work.

Camp is today's Dalmatian of the Day

Watch of the Day