Bridget Callahan is Your Best Friend

I've always thought that one of the signs of growing old is starting to hoard things or buy them in bulk. First of all, usually only older people have the money to do that. Second, only older people are really counting on using 12 bottles of ketchup in the future. I don't think I would use 12 bottles of ketchup in a decade. Third, when you're younger, you usually don't have the space for keeping that crap. With the housing implosion, I guess that last one doesn't work as well these days.

But the other day at the grocery store, I bought three bottles of wine that were on sale. I took them home and plopped them on top of my fridge with the other two bottles I already had there. So either I'm reacting in an instinctual animalistic way to the impending economic collapse, or it's time to buy a Sam's Club membership.

I woke up today getting sick. It's that active kind of cold, the one that you recognize immediately by the tell tale sniffle in the morning, and the onset of symptoms within hours that is only comparable to having a herd of rhinos covered in barbed wire and cottonballs let loose in your head. Get it? Rhinos, rhino virus? Ugh. Seriously, this is fast acting. Within hours of getting to the office, I am full blown out of it, and also everyone else at the office is sneezing and coughing now.

So I took my lunch at work early (I usually try to tough it out till 5pm, so when I come back the day is already over), and I drove in the sinus infecting dreary cold rain to CVS to buy tissues. Why are there so many types of tissues available? And why can't I just buy super tissues that combine all desirable features? You know, mentholated, super soft, lotioned, anti-bacterial, cool looking pattern tissues. That also can act as cooling facial masks, to cover up the dark circles. And evaporate after used.

In conclusion, after reading the comments on the Foreclosure/Housing Bill story in NYT, I:
a) hate people
b) hate banks
c) hate that everybody is mad about irresponsible people getting help, but no one is angry about the irresponsible banks who are just getting more and more incentives, with no real rules forcing them to use those incentives for good.
d) hate that all those people in category c are also the ones complaining that they're not getting any bailout help. Even though they have jobs and are making their payments just fine. They want to get paid for not being stupid. They want to complain about the size of the bill, and they want to complain about having to help people who got themselves in their own mess, but they also want free money as a reward for not being broke. What?
e) Where the fuck are our regulations, dude? Seriously, isn't that what we're supposed to be doing, regulating everything? C'mon.

There was a really excellent Economic Collapse for Beginners Frontline on last night, which just went through the whole banking nightmare timeline event by event, and I feel much more qualified to be terrified now . Also a little self-righteous, as watching Frontline tends to do.

And if I hear one more jackass from Wisconsin say "just let the markets fix it", I will burst into sick person angry tears, and I'll get sicker from the crying, and then you all will have to deal with irrational grumpy politically asking for it Bridget. And that's not a lot of fun, as my parents, siblings, and various boyfriends can tell you.

ALSO, Mr. "Google Ad on my homepage", I doubt rice cakes have really changed THAT much.