We're Safe

A Note To The Granddaughters

I apologize.

I did not blog as much today as usual.

It did not have anything to do with the bombings in downtown Boston or the JFK Library bombing/fire.

Several things:

1. I got to Starbucks first thing this a.m., a little after 6:00 a.m. -- the earliest I think I've been to this Starbucks. They changed their log-in procedure and despite everything I tried, I couldn't get on Starbucks wi-fi. Like most men, I won't ask for help. So I took my coffee, and doughnut, and went back home. I was in a bad mood which didn't help with blogging.

2. I knew the market was going to be bad today: I mentioned that yesterday in the WSJ links when I saw "China....growth...slows" all in one sentence. When the market is bad it takes a bit of enthusiasm out of my desire to blog.

3. But the big reason for minimal blogging was out-of-town guests.

4. I had planned to bicycle down to the 20-mile marker of the Boston Marathon route this morning, but after the Starbucks fiasco, I forgot about the Marathon.....yes, I need to get a life.

5. When I am in Boston with my granddaughters I have access to television; I turned on the set about 3:30 or 4:30 -- I forget when, and saw the news. I was stunned. But I was a long way from the events and everyone here is safe. Even our out-of-town guests had planned to be downtown today for the event, but decided not to get into the big crowd.

6. A lot of folks have asked if we are safe; we are, thank you.

7. I expected that we would not see much from the NDIC today with Bismarck shut down due to the storm; and indeed, there was no daily activity report (at least when I last checked).

8. So, it was a bad day all around. Now I see Pilot Flying J has FBI/IRS issues, which just puts the frosting on the cake, as they say. Wow, this has been a bad day.

9. Of course, I suppose to top it off, I dropped my income tax paperwork off at the post office. Wow, the postal clerk was nice. She is usually pretty deadpan, but we had a nice discussion, joked about sending it certified or not. I figured if anyone could use the $3.61 the US Postal Service could use it, so I sent it certified. She told me the IRS would reimburse me the $3.61 if I put a claim in for it. Just joking.

10. So, sorry for the rambling. But I'm safe. I'm not really eager to look at all the damage in the market today, but, of course, it pales alongside the insanity downtown.

11. Oh, two things: a) I am absolutely amazed how fast "they" can isolate a suspect [apparently wrong in this case], and how fast the media gets it in print (and so often correct from the "get-go"; and, b) the DrudgeReport gets a lot of grief from a lot of folks, but if you want to find out immediately about a really big breaking story, one goes to the DrudgeReport. It was the fastest way to get links to multiple sources regarding the story.

12. Someone's knocking at the door; gotta go. Hope it's not the FBI/IRS.

Somebody's Knocking', Terri Gibbs