I read in the news that some banks are in trouble due to bad investments of one kind or another and in order to keep them banks running, the United States government is stepping up to provide some of them with money. Lots of money.
This reminds me that many years ago I decided I wanted to be a teacher. (It wasn’t until much later that I changed that to “educator”.) In my long career in education there were many times I discovered I had made some poor financial decisions and I ended up owing more money than was coming in. Whenever that happened, and it did several times, I went out and got an extra job to cover the mistakes I had made. It never even occurred to me to ask the government to bail me out.
I should have been a bank.
In addition to making some poor decisions I was the victim of a less than complete education my college provided me. I first learned there was an “unpaid vacation” every summer when I went to my first teaching job. So, for many years I went to work in industry every summer.
I should have been a bank.
It shouldn’t be that hard for a bank to balance their finances. It’s a matter of working more hours. “Banker’s hours” has come to be an accepted term in the language. I wonder why they don’t work longer or work harder to avoid finding themselves in financial difficulties.
I should have been a bank.
The Old Professor
Carmel, CA
October 14, 2008
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query I should have been a bank. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query I should have been a bank. Sort by date Show all posts
10/14/2008
10/13/2008
SOME DAYS YOU GET LUCKY
I had a very interesting adventure the other day. It was Friday just a little before six o'clock. I remember the time exactly because I had needed to go to the bank and, as the bank stays open until six o'clock on Fridays, I just made it. I had managed to get my business done and was on the way home driving on a very busy 4-lane highway. That's two lanes each way. I was in the slow lane which I was to learn is referred to as the number one lane and I was going about 35, possibly 40 mph which might have been a little slower than most of the other people were driving. Because it was six o'clock or so most of them were probably anxious to get home.
As I approached a street on my right I saw a black car trying to get into traffic to go in the opposite direction from what I was traveling. That meant he would have to cross two lanes and turn left. I could see his head turning left and right and I think he finally saw an opening and made a dash for. The only problem was he apparently didn't see me. When I saw him inching out I eased over one lane. Just before I got in front of him he made his dash for it and ran right into the passenger side of my car knocking me and my little Prius into the very busy oncoming lane. I managed to control the car and drove off the road facing traffic but I was very, very lucky that none of the oncoming cars hit me.
I sat there for a few minutes just composing myself. I thought I had seen a black car hit me and then drive off. But I noticed there was a tan car parked on the road behind me. So I eventually got out of the car and walked some 50 feet to that car. There was a lady sitting in the car, she rolled on the window and I asked, "Are you the person who hit me?"
"Hell no. I was a witness and I just called 911 for you. I saw the car was a black BMW S. but I didn't get the license number. He hit you and took off."
So, we waited for some enforcement officers to appear and it turned out we waited more than an hour and she stayed with me the whole time. What a wonderful lady.
I decided to walk back to my car and see what kind of damage had been done to the car. As I was walking along I heard a strange clacking sound in the middle of the road and, lo and behold, there was the front license plate from the missing hit-and-run driver. As I walked back toward the lady I said, "Some days you just get lucky."
Eventually all of the paperwork was finished and luckily the car was still drivable. It wasn't until I got home that I had time to think of the experience and realized the few seconds I was in the wrong lanes, facing cars bearing down on me were probably the most terrifying times of my life.
However, as they say, all is well that ends well. I was lucky in that the passenger side seat was empty and I do have insurance to cover the damage.
I imagine there is some guy who managed, or thought he managed, to get safely home after he had hit someone. I'm getting a great deal of pleasure out of imagining his surprise when the police arrive at his door and ask if he lost his license plate. I wonder if they will arrest him for leaving the scene of an accident. That’s a crime.
The Old Professor
Carmel, CA
October 13, 2008
PS My car should be back in a week or so and there is an estimated $3,100.00 damage.
As I approached a street on my right I saw a black car trying to get into traffic to go in the opposite direction from what I was traveling. That meant he would have to cross two lanes and turn left. I could see his head turning left and right and I think he finally saw an opening and made a dash for. The only problem was he apparently didn't see me. When I saw him inching out I eased over one lane. Just before I got in front of him he made his dash for it and ran right into the passenger side of my car knocking me and my little Prius into the very busy oncoming lane. I managed to control the car and drove off the road facing traffic but I was very, very lucky that none of the oncoming cars hit me.
I sat there for a few minutes just composing myself. I thought I had seen a black car hit me and then drive off. But I noticed there was a tan car parked on the road behind me. So I eventually got out of the car and walked some 50 feet to that car. There was a lady sitting in the car, she rolled on the window and I asked, "Are you the person who hit me?"
"Hell no. I was a witness and I just called 911 for you. I saw the car was a black BMW S. but I didn't get the license number. He hit you and took off."
So, we waited for some enforcement officers to appear and it turned out we waited more than an hour and she stayed with me the whole time. What a wonderful lady.
I decided to walk back to my car and see what kind of damage had been done to the car. As I was walking along I heard a strange clacking sound in the middle of the road and, lo and behold, there was the front license plate from the missing hit-and-run driver. As I walked back toward the lady I said, "Some days you just get lucky."
Eventually all of the paperwork was finished and luckily the car was still drivable. It wasn't until I got home that I had time to think of the experience and realized the few seconds I was in the wrong lanes, facing cars bearing down on me were probably the most terrifying times of my life.
However, as they say, all is well that ends well. I was lucky in that the passenger side seat was empty and I do have insurance to cover the damage.
I imagine there is some guy who managed, or thought he managed, to get safely home after he had hit someone. I'm getting a great deal of pleasure out of imagining his surprise when the police arrive at his door and ask if he lost his license plate. I wonder if they will arrest him for leaving the scene of an accident. That’s a crime.
The Old Professor
Carmel, CA
October 13, 2008
PS My car should be back in a week or so and there is an estimated $3,100.00 damage.
6/16/2007
HAPPY DOGS
I hardly seems possible that it's been well over a month since I last posted a blog here. This time I have a better excuse than "the dog ate my blog." It has been really busy around here and, of all things, the source of a great amount of it was our Shih Tzu dog named Jake.
Even though I seem to lack the genes needed to be a pet lover I do feel this guy, Jake, is a pretty special dog that somehow gets everyone to love him. In fact, recently, a Veterinary Nurse who was looking at him said, "He's so cute I could kiss him right on the lips." I thought that was going a bit farther than the stage I am at now but nonetheless it was kind of a cute thing to hear.
About a month ago Jake developed a slight limp in his right forepaw. Not much I thought but apparently enough that a visit to the vet was called for. This led to some medication and some advice to keep him quite for a while. There was not hint given as to how to keep him quiet and apparently it wasn't explained to Jake either. That night we were at the 24-Hour Emergency Veterinarian's Office, as he seemed to be in more pain. You didn't know there was a 24-Hour Emergency Veterinarian services? Oh yes, if you are willing to pay. From previous experiences we also were aware there are Animal Dermatologists and we learned there are also Animal Ophthalmologists. I wonder how they do that "Read the chart thing" and how do they do that "Is this one better or is this one better?" thing. It was at that office we saw a magazine as advising us of the availability of a "Pet Psychic." Hmmm.
However, it was that Emergency Veterinarian who did suggest the problem was actually in Jake's neck and suggested X-rays at our regular Veterinarian in the morning. Sure enough it was and several hundred dollars later we were on our way to a city about an hour's drive north of here where they have a special animal hospital that does surgery. After arriving there and meeting with that Veterinary Surgeon it was determined he did need spinal surgery and he should have an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) only they didn't have the MRI equipment so we headed out for another hour's drive to get there just before they closed.
We left there and returned to the vet surgeon with a CD of the images. That was two images at $700 each but we probably could keep a copy of the CD to watch on evenings we wouldn't be able to afford to do anything else. Surgery was scheduled for the next day and we drove the last hour to home.
Of course we drove back the next day to be sure to greet Jake when he came out of surgery. That was a wasted trip except we did see he was still alive. The next day we did take him home but only for a day. The poor dog was in such distress we were unable to get his medications into him so we took him back and left him there as a hospital patient for the better part of a week.
He now is home but still not out of the woods. He sleeps a lot and when we tries to walk he has trouble. I describe his walk as looking like a drunk walking on slippery ice. He falls down quite a bit but each day seems to get better. Our trips back and forth to the hospital are finished for now and our bank account is severely bruised enough that we no longer dream of building a girls school in Africa like Oprah did.
Which finally brings me to the point of this blog. I was talking to my eldest daughter who has had a lot of experience with animals. She told me something that I thought was quite profound and was the main reason I wrote this thing. She urged us not to be too concerned over details and reminded us that things which seem important to us might not be important to Jake. Then she said, "A three-legged dog is just as happy as a four-legged dog." That phrase kept going over and over in my mind and I even thought it would make a great title for that book I'm going to write someday. "A three-legged dog is just as happy as a four-legged dog." I think we could all learn from that and if we could apply it to ourselves it's just possible we might just be as happy as Jake even if we can't do all the things we want to do.
The Old Professor
Carmel, CA
June 16, 2007
Even though I seem to lack the genes needed to be a pet lover I do feel this guy, Jake, is a pretty special dog that somehow gets everyone to love him. In fact, recently, a Veterinary Nurse who was looking at him said, "He's so cute I could kiss him right on the lips." I thought that was going a bit farther than the stage I am at now but nonetheless it was kind of a cute thing to hear.
About a month ago Jake developed a slight limp in his right forepaw. Not much I thought but apparently enough that a visit to the vet was called for. This led to some medication and some advice to keep him quite for a while. There was not hint given as to how to keep him quiet and apparently it wasn't explained to Jake either. That night we were at the 24-Hour Emergency Veterinarian's Office, as he seemed to be in more pain. You didn't know there was a 24-Hour Emergency Veterinarian services? Oh yes, if you are willing to pay. From previous experiences we also were aware there are Animal Dermatologists and we learned there are also Animal Ophthalmologists. I wonder how they do that "Read the chart thing" and how do they do that "Is this one better or is this one better?" thing. It was at that office we saw a magazine as advising us of the availability of a "Pet Psychic." Hmmm.
However, it was that Emergency Veterinarian who did suggest the problem was actually in Jake's neck and suggested X-rays at our regular Veterinarian in the morning. Sure enough it was and several hundred dollars later we were on our way to a city about an hour's drive north of here where they have a special animal hospital that does surgery. After arriving there and meeting with that Veterinary Surgeon it was determined he did need spinal surgery and he should have an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) only they didn't have the MRI equipment so we headed out for another hour's drive to get there just before they closed.
We left there and returned to the vet surgeon with a CD of the images. That was two images at $700 each but we probably could keep a copy of the CD to watch on evenings we wouldn't be able to afford to do anything else. Surgery was scheduled for the next day and we drove the last hour to home.
Of course we drove back the next day to be sure to greet Jake when he came out of surgery. That was a wasted trip except we did see he was still alive. The next day we did take him home but only for a day. The poor dog was in such distress we were unable to get his medications into him so we took him back and left him there as a hospital patient for the better part of a week.
He now is home but still not out of the woods. He sleeps a lot and when we tries to walk he has trouble. I describe his walk as looking like a drunk walking on slippery ice. He falls down quite a bit but each day seems to get better. Our trips back and forth to the hospital are finished for now and our bank account is severely bruised enough that we no longer dream of building a girls school in Africa like Oprah did.
Which finally brings me to the point of this blog. I was talking to my eldest daughter who has had a lot of experience with animals. She told me something that I thought was quite profound and was the main reason I wrote this thing. She urged us not to be too concerned over details and reminded us that things which seem important to us might not be important to Jake. Then she said, "A three-legged dog is just as happy as a four-legged dog." That phrase kept going over and over in my mind and I even thought it would make a great title for that book I'm going to write someday. "A three-legged dog is just as happy as a four-legged dog." I think we could all learn from that and if we could apply it to ourselves it's just possible we might just be as happy as Jake even if we can't do all the things we want to do.
The Old Professor
Carmel, CA
June 16, 2007
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