I am leaving on Tuesday to fly to the British Virgin Islands, specifically Tortola. For any of you who might not know where Tortola is, it's diagonally to the right of the top hump of South America. Christopher Columbus discovered and named it the "land of the turtle dove". Probably because these turtle doves were migrating from Africa where Wikipedia says they normally live. Regardless of why Columbus picked a turtle dove to be Tortola's namesake, I think getting married in the land of the turtle doves sounds romantic and movie-magic perfect.
But, I hate flying commercially, especially discount commercially. I would say that I hate flying in general, but since I've never flown in a private aircraft, I'll have to assume that my dislike for flying is, in some part, due to the annoyance of today's commercial airline incarnation. I do not like arriving some place up to three hours earlier than I need to arrive there. And it's not like they provide any comforts to me as a customer after I get processed and have to sit and wait so long. And every single item you might like or need to purchase while you are waiting has been marked up at least 30% in price. Why? Because the merchants realize that you are being held hostage in the hangar until your flight leaves! Technically, you could leave and go buy whatever you'd wanted outside the airport, but then you'd have to stand through all those waiting lines one more time! Then assuming your flight departs on time, you get to be herded like cattle onto a big metal tube and hurled through the air. While you're in the air, you are forced to inhale the recirculated germ-laden stinky air, that's always either too hot or cold. Flying, in economy class from Houston to Puerto Rico, takes almost five hours. Then we have to fly from Puerto Rico to Tortola which isn't too long, less than two. So, in total, I'm going to be flying for about 7 hours! Many of you may be thinking you have taken far longer flights than that, and I have, too, before, but I still cringe when anticipating how fun-filled my Tuesday will be.
The last flight I was on, from Dallas to New York City, was supposed to be a simple one-way hop. I thought I was going to die on that airplane the experience was so bad! First we don't leave anywhere near on time; then once on the plane, we don't get cleared to take off until almost an hour later; then once we are flying, we circle, in bad turbulence, for so long in a forced holding pattern in the air that we had to detour and land to get some more gas! Of course we finally arrived, alive. Nonetheless, these commercial airlines seem to be so clueless as to why they're not earning a profit. Could it be that they have no sense of hospitality for their hostages? Lets face it, when you are miles above the ground, no matter how poorly the flight is going, there's not a single thing you can change or help for yourself. Besides prison, I can't think of a single other instance in life where this is true. And as a final insult on top of the rest of it, airline prices are higher now than ever before. Buying our airfare was the most costliest expense of our entire wedding, including the whole resort stay! Hmm, a seven hour flight costs more than a seven night stay on a private island?! I wish I could say it wasn't so.
Thanks for reading,
(the VERY soon to be)
MRS. Cajun Haole
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Thursday, October 16, 2008
What's wrong with being greedy?
Lately while I've been trying to plan the wedding, honeymoon, and reception, I've become very stressed out about money. I really do want the most romantic and relaxing ceremony and honeymoon, almost to the point of a cheesy romance movie, and I really would like a reception filled with family and friends and lots of "eat, drink, and be merry"-ing. But all of these events require a substantial budget. Because I've been very ill lately, I finally had to decide for my health reasons to cancel the reception. I had to realize that producing the facade of a happy family and playing the role of a blushing bride, just wasn't in the cards for me. My family does not share any resemblance to any of the iconic TV families of the past, but I still had such a hard time letting go of this unrealistic expectation of "an Autumnal evening outdoors reception on the lake". And regardless of how hard it was to take off my rose colored glasses and see my family for what they are, its actually quite easy to be happy about the decision for one, main reason; not having a reception is saving me lots of money.
I'm an accounting major, not because I love math or numbers, but because it's a highly skilled profession that pays very well and has a strong job market. I think moving out on my own when I turned eighteen really set the foundation for me to become the type of person who counts pennies, so to speak. So why would wanting to keep my own money in my own pocket instead of shell it out for this and that for other people to enjoy be viewed as selfish? Doesn't my money being in my savings do me more good than an expensive party? I was surprised to hear myself called greedy, even stingy. Realistically, I know that no one I know would pay for my rent if a disaster were to befall my life. So since it's a dog-eat-dog situation in today's economy, I would think that these "friends" who are calling me greedy could at least appreciate the sound rationale behind my financial conservatism. I was really taken aback with some of the reactions I've gotten after letting the guests know not to expect a reception. I thought telling them that my health is poor right now and so physically I cannot produce such an affair would be enough to make them see my point, but they are quite stubborn in accepting that a couple would willingly choose to not have a wedding reception. It seemed black and white to me. Aside from my health, the only other thing which keeps me feeling secure in life, is money. I really hate to admit that, but I cannot deny feeling a sense of a better well-being I have when my savings versus feelings of vulnerability and insecurity when it is depleted. I wish being greedy weren't viewed as a terrible character flaw. I think its just being smart. I think that looking after the best interests for me and my husband first, before any others, will help everything be okay. As for what these others have decided to perceive as my character's flaws, I will celebrate as evidence of my own genius.
I'm an accounting major, not because I love math or numbers, but because it's a highly skilled profession that pays very well and has a strong job market. I think moving out on my own when I turned eighteen really set the foundation for me to become the type of person who counts pennies, so to speak. So why would wanting to keep my own money in my own pocket instead of shell it out for this and that for other people to enjoy be viewed as selfish? Doesn't my money being in my savings do me more good than an expensive party? I was surprised to hear myself called greedy, even stingy. Realistically, I know that no one I know would pay for my rent if a disaster were to befall my life. So since it's a dog-eat-dog situation in today's economy, I would think that these "friends" who are calling me greedy could at least appreciate the sound rationale behind my financial conservatism. I was really taken aback with some of the reactions I've gotten after letting the guests know not to expect a reception. I thought telling them that my health is poor right now and so physically I cannot produce such an affair would be enough to make them see my point, but they are quite stubborn in accepting that a couple would willingly choose to not have a wedding reception. It seemed black and white to me. Aside from my health, the only other thing which keeps me feeling secure in life, is money. I really hate to admit that, but I cannot deny feeling a sense of a better well-being I have when my savings versus feelings of vulnerability and insecurity when it is depleted. I wish being greedy weren't viewed as a terrible character flaw. I think its just being smart. I think that looking after the best interests for me and my husband first, before any others, will help everything be okay. As for what these others have decided to perceive as my character's flaws, I will celebrate as evidence of my own genius.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Terrible Sickness
Last weekend, particularly on Saturday night, I started having a sharp pain pierce through my left lung. I have been struggling with bronchitis since the start of this semester, so I assumed that this pain was some sort of rebound development related to the prolonged bronchitis. Sunday the pain got so much worse. It was like having a serrated knife stabbed into and then pushed all the way through out my back every time I took a single breath. TRUE AGONY! By Monday morning I thought I was surely having a heart attack since the pain centered on the left side of my chest. I decided to sacrifice my seven hours of time up at the LSU Fast track ER clinic so that I could find out what in the world was wrong with me. They did the usual battery of tests, as slowly as possible of course, blood work and a chest x-ray. They decided that I have something called pleurisy. Pleurisy, I learned, is an inflammation of the lining of the lung whereby it is filled to a certain degree with fluid and expands to rub up against the chest wall and cause pain. If it was the worst case scenario then the only real remedy is to open the chest and extract the fluid by sticking a huge needle into the space between the lung and lining. How terrifying does that sound?! If you don't have such a dire condition, the pleurisy just makes your life a living, breathing torture. They prescribed Naproxin which is just Alieve for its anti-inflammatory properties and supposedly because it also helps with the pain. It most certainly does not help with any of this awful pain. If I could not breathe, I would. But since you can't "take a break from breathing ever" I'm forced to anticipate that raging stabing pain with everey little breath I take. Forget if hell is made of fire or ice, for me, it would be eternity suffering from bronchitis and pleurisy. And naproxin?! seriously?! I'm like sobbing in tears when this doctor explains that they will not opt to prescribe a stronger anti inflammatory medication or something that is specifically for pain either. What kind of medicine are these fine folks peddling? Mind you I am grateful to be able to go for treatment eventhough I have no medical insurance, but when you are a patient there they seem to forget you are also a human being with real feelings and a real life that will continue on whether or not I can breathe without wanting to scream in pain. In the end after my breakdown subsided, I left glad to know I wasn't having a heart attack or a pneumonia, but still very distrubed that pleurisy's treatment, according to them, was just to take Alieve and wait until it goes away. Oh how I'm praying for the time to fly by!
As always, thanks for reading and stay well.
The Cajun Haole
As always, thanks for reading and stay well.
The Cajun Haole
Friday, October 3, 2008
Bailout B.S.!
Recently the entire country has been shocked to learn that our financial industry is in a crisis. Apparently the government has decided that it needs to bail them out of this situation. $700 Billion worth of a bailout!
Now as an aspiring accountant, I have huge problems with this plan. Firstly, as a tax paying citizen of this country, I do not think that spending this much taxpayer money to rescue irresponsible business is ethical. Ask yourself this, if you go out and overspend then find your bank account overdrawn, do you think for one second that Uncle Sam is going to come to your rescue?! Heck no! The government has never been there for its citizens in that capacity. If you mismanage your funds, you should suffer the consequences.
The media and our elected legislature wants us to believe that if they do not pass this bailout then there will be a world wide financial crisis. But why? I have yet to hear a single satisfactory answer to this question. Why would WaMu going under threaten the global economy? It doesn't. What it does threaten is my poor grandmother who was unfortunate enough to have a high yielding savings account with them. And the only tangible result to be seen from WaMu's demise is that now my grandma's accounts are owned by J.P. Morgan and Chase. So what?~
I know that WaMu isn't the only financial institution to be affected by the mortgage catastrophy, but seriously, isn't it the bank's fault to a large extent for giving less than truely qualified people these huge home mortgages? Since when should the average taxpayer have to suffer because someone down the road wanted to keep up with the Jones' and buy an extravagently expensive home? And furthermore why did an entire subsection of the economy, the housing market, allow itself to undergo an astronomical value increase for no reason? Just because some real estate agents got greedy and some speculators had the cash to throw around, I do not understand how this is now my problem as a taxpayer.
And lastly I ask myself who were these auditing firms that did such a poor job of informing the public of an impending financial melt down. One of the basic principles of accounting is called "the going concern". Not to give you all a lecture, but the jist of this tenent says that if an auditor does not believe that the company its auditing will continue to be functioning, if the going concern is not met, then there is a duty and responsiblity to disclose this information. I don't think anyone had any idea that the financial market in our country was so close to such a huge disaster like this. Not a single auditing report has trickled into the media which would have validated that these auditors honored the going concern with regard to these company's precarious financial positions. WHY IS THIS? Why are the auditing firms not being asked to repay the $700 billion? Isn't it largely their fault that the American public invested in bad companies? I say it is. And what about these huge CEO/CFO/COO bonuses which were given out like free peppermints on a pillow? Why doesn't the government make those A'holes pay back the money and salvage the economy by throwing those guys under the bus that they set into motion? Or how about getting the bailout money from the top 2% of Americans who could actually afford it?
The majority of our elected officials have gone to college. And as you all know, economics is a required course for all business majors. Now granted not every politican was a business major, but seriously, have they never heard of the basics of economics? Why would they ever think that allowing our government to buy out bad debts from financial institutions would help? Its absurd and illogical. And furthermore, it pisses me off. I am not a bleeding heart liberal nor am I a Bible thumping conservative, but honestly, I do not care if WaMu and its counterparts go out of business. Yes, it is sad for the unwitting employees who were simply doing their jobs, but the top executives had an obligation to prevent these types of disasters. They spent their companies funds irresponsibly and now the American public is supposed to sacrifice its wellbeing for theirs?!
So I will end by asking anyone who reads this blog to email your congressman, senator or any other elected offical. Let them know that you DO NOT WANT TO BAIL BIG BUSINESS OUT!
I'm not optimistic enough to think it will actually work, since the Senate passed the bailout bill earlier this week, but at least we, the taxpayers, can know that we tried to get our voices heard. Too bad we're just ordinary people and not lobbist groups or special interest affiliates or CEOs because it seems Washington only has ears for those with deep pockets. This is not democracy~
As always, thanks for reading and stay well.
The Cajun Haole
Now as an aspiring accountant, I have huge problems with this plan. Firstly, as a tax paying citizen of this country, I do not think that spending this much taxpayer money to rescue irresponsible business is ethical. Ask yourself this, if you go out and overspend then find your bank account overdrawn, do you think for one second that Uncle Sam is going to come to your rescue?! Heck no! The government has never been there for its citizens in that capacity. If you mismanage your funds, you should suffer the consequences.
The media and our elected legislature wants us to believe that if they do not pass this bailout then there will be a world wide financial crisis. But why? I have yet to hear a single satisfactory answer to this question. Why would WaMu going under threaten the global economy? It doesn't. What it does threaten is my poor grandmother who was unfortunate enough to have a high yielding savings account with them. And the only tangible result to be seen from WaMu's demise is that now my grandma's accounts are owned by J.P. Morgan and Chase. So what?~
I know that WaMu isn't the only financial institution to be affected by the mortgage catastrophy, but seriously, isn't it the bank's fault to a large extent for giving less than truely qualified people these huge home mortgages? Since when should the average taxpayer have to suffer because someone down the road wanted to keep up with the Jones' and buy an extravagently expensive home? And furthermore why did an entire subsection of the economy, the housing market, allow itself to undergo an astronomical value increase for no reason? Just because some real estate agents got greedy and some speculators had the cash to throw around, I do not understand how this is now my problem as a taxpayer.
And lastly I ask myself who were these auditing firms that did such a poor job of informing the public of an impending financial melt down. One of the basic principles of accounting is called "the going concern". Not to give you all a lecture, but the jist of this tenent says that if an auditor does not believe that the company its auditing will continue to be functioning, if the going concern is not met, then there is a duty and responsiblity to disclose this information. I don't think anyone had any idea that the financial market in our country was so close to such a huge disaster like this. Not a single auditing report has trickled into the media which would have validated that these auditors honored the going concern with regard to these company's precarious financial positions. WHY IS THIS? Why are the auditing firms not being asked to repay the $700 billion? Isn't it largely their fault that the American public invested in bad companies? I say it is. And what about these huge CEO/CFO/COO bonuses which were given out like free peppermints on a pillow? Why doesn't the government make those A'holes pay back the money and salvage the economy by throwing those guys under the bus that they set into motion? Or how about getting the bailout money from the top 2% of Americans who could actually afford it?
The majority of our elected officials have gone to college. And as you all know, economics is a required course for all business majors. Now granted not every politican was a business major, but seriously, have they never heard of the basics of economics? Why would they ever think that allowing our government to buy out bad debts from financial institutions would help? Its absurd and illogical. And furthermore, it pisses me off. I am not a bleeding heart liberal nor am I a Bible thumping conservative, but honestly, I do not care if WaMu and its counterparts go out of business. Yes, it is sad for the unwitting employees who were simply doing their jobs, but the top executives had an obligation to prevent these types of disasters. They spent their companies funds irresponsibly and now the American public is supposed to sacrifice its wellbeing for theirs?!
So I will end by asking anyone who reads this blog to email your congressman, senator or any other elected offical. Let them know that you DO NOT WANT TO BAIL BIG BUSINESS OUT!
I'm not optimistic enough to think it will actually work, since the Senate passed the bailout bill earlier this week, but at least we, the taxpayers, can know that we tried to get our voices heard. Too bad we're just ordinary people and not lobbist groups or special interest affiliates or CEOs because it seems Washington only has ears for those with deep pockets. This is not democracy~
As always, thanks for reading and stay well.
The Cajun Haole
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