The Market, Energy, And Political Page, T+84 -- November 5, 2018

Eighty-four days of concerns leading up to "full" Iranian sanctions, though waivers are already being given by President Trump. Reminds me of Obama's "lines" in the sand. Whatever. Wednesday, November 7, it will be day 1 after the midterms. Time to move on.

Quick: what is the historical significance of "full" Iranian sanctions being imposed on November 4th?

Waivers, Iran sanctions: Greece, Italy get waivers. Spain, not. At least not yet.

Russian oil production (previously posted): sets new 30-year-high record in October.

Russian pensions: one of many stories here.

• Russia has lowest retirement age for government pension ("social security") of any "developed" nation
• Putin to change that; will raise retirement age --
• for men, from 60 to 65, starting in 2028
• for women, from 55 to 60, starting in 2034
• current life expectancy:
• for men in Russia is 66.4 years
• for women in Russia is 77.2 years
• all: 71.9 years

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Notes to the Granddaughters

Kudos to the school district. A note from your middle school principal:

Last Thursday, Stephanie Rumbelow (GCISD Paraprofessional of the Year), Brooke Teeter-Stocz (GCISD Secondary Teacher of the Year), and I were a part of a small group of GCISD employees that accompanied Dr. Ryan and his admin cabinet to a luncheon at the Omni hotel in Dallas.

This luncheon was hosted by The Dallas Morning News for the purpose of recognizing GCISD as one of the top 100 places to work in the DFW metroplex! Out of the 100 workplaces represented there were only three school districts to make this list. I'm also proud to report that we were the highest ranked amongst the three! 

Water polo update: oldest granddaughter's water polo team took 2nd place in the Dallas Invitational over the weekend. Again, her team took second to Houston's top team -- the classic state water polo rivalry. But our team is getting closer and closer to beating them. Arianna, meanwhile scored several points over the weekend.

Soccer: Olivia's team remains #2 in a tight 1-2 race in her league. My hunch: they will end up champions for the season but it's going to be close. Due to all the rain this fall, the season will be extended well into 2019 to get all the games in.

Sophia? So where does that leave Sophia? She had her best Halloween haul ever. LOL.