Life is a banquet!

Back to Blogging

I started this blog on October 1, 2004.  Today I stumbled across the link to the blog and was absolutely astounded that my blog still existed! My last post (of over 490) was in 2013. That feels like a lifetime ago! 

I was a completely different person then. 

My blog posts reference our second dog Gemma and completely missed our third dog Echo. We're now on our fourth dog, Allie.  

I've been through three new employers and two layoffs since 2013.

My nieces and godchildren are young men and women now.

I've become a beekeeper, I'm the president of our local beekeeping club, I have a small honey and candle side-business.  

I spend too much time doomscrolling on my phone.

I have a greater appreciation for art, art techniques, the importance of living a creative life and sharing art with others.

What hasn't changed - I love Charles. I love our life in DC. I love spending time with friends and the new friends we have developed in the intervening years. I love my job. 

I'm going to try this blogging thing again and see what happens. 

How to catch a Frog: A Review

Yesterday I finished the book "How to Catch a Frog and other stories of family, love, dysfunction, survival and DIY" by Heather Ross.  It was a memoir, a collection of short stories about growing up as the granddaughter of privilege minus the trust fund, stable family life and the comforts of what most parents would want for their children.  As impoverished as it was financially and emotionally, it was rich in opportunity for adventure and imagination.  Through each story, Heather's sense of humor, resourcefulness and bravery stand out. 

Heather Ross writes at times nostalgically for her rural, nature-immersed childhood while making it clear that much of the time she and her twin sister were cold and hungry. She, her mother and twin sister were greatly reliant on a loosely woven safety net provided by loving grandparents, aunts and uncles, each encumbered by their own disfunction.  The family members clearly love one another and Heather but are too wounded by their own addictions (her Uncle Mike), narrow-minded (her Paternal grandparents), immaturity (her father), selfishness (her mother), their religious superiority (her neighbors) to be capable of effectively loving.

Growing up Heather lacks a guide and roadmap to successful adulthood so she stumbles, a lot. Luckily for us she is willing to share those experiences in such a way that she and we can see the humor, feel her shame, fume with her anger, and ultimately relish in her happiness and joy.  

 

Mad Men: Selling Sterling Cooper and what it means for Joan

Somehow I missed the first half of season seven of Mad Men, so I'm only now catching up with Don Draper and the crew at Sterling Cooper.  In this season we learn that Roger has made a deal to sell the firm to their competitors and that Joan's 5% stake in the company is worth $1.5 million.

Joan of course is delighted with the windfall and she should be! Joan has helped win strategic deals, keep valued clients, and helped each member of the Sterling Cooper executive team in more ways that one.  Finally Joan will reap some monetary rewards and get out of that small two bedroom flat where she lives with her mother and young son.

These are 1969 dollars so what does that $1.5 million equate to in today's purchasing power?  As I did with my blog post from 2008 on Mad Men Salaries and Buying Power, I turned to the Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI Inflation Calculator.  No wonder Joan is giddy with excitement, her 5% stake in the company is worth the equivalent of $9,675,858 today.  That is a life-changing sum of money.  

But let's not get too far ahead of ourselves, Joan has to pay the tax man first.  According to these historic tax tables, because Joan makes over $100,000 this windfall puts her in the, gulp, 70% tax bracket.  Uncle Sam takes $1,050,000 off the top.  NY State will also take their share. For folks who earned more than $25,000 per year they paid the maximum rate of 15%. So there goes $225,000.  Now Joan has $225,000 left to play with.

That $225,000 is still a nice chunk of change; $1,451,378 in today's dollars.  We know Joan is a sensible woman, let's assume she uses some money to buy herself a nice place to live.  In the 1970s, NYC real estate was running about $45/square foot.  Joan could take $100,000 and get a 2000 square foot condo in a nice neighborhood.  

She could then invest the remaining $125,000 in the S&P.  If she left it alone and kept reinvesting the dividends she'd have a nice little nest egg. Assuming Joan is 30 in 1970 and she leaves that money alone until she is 65 (2005) she'll have $5,416,111.  And if she managed to weather the financial storms and keep the money in the market through 2013 she'd have 40% more ($9,151,349). I've got my fingers crossed for Joan!

 

Brrr!

Today I worked from home in the warmth of the guest room. It was nice curling up with my Macbook Air next to a toasty radiator.  Out of habit from working in the attic tundra I wore my REI long underwear along with scarf and fleece top which meant I was almost too warm.  Almost but not quite!

Echo was at home with me.  At lunchtime I put her outside in the yard for about 20 minutes. Although she looked perfectly comfortable hanging out on the snowpack, she was more than happy to scoot inside the moment I called for her.  Despite the brilliant sunshine, it was only in single digits thanks to the wind chill. A side benefit to her lunchtime ice experience was that she did not beg and cry to be let outside for the rest of the afternoon. My conference calls were bark-free for the remainder of the day!

I'm dreading tomorrow when it will be even colder.

Productivity, where are you?

Today I relished being back in an office complete with office mate and colleagues down the hall. After three years of working from home it was delightful to have someone on the other side of the room to bounce ideas off, ask questions of and chat about the weather. It was great until I realized that I wasn't getting much work done.

Blocks of unscheduled time that I'd hoped to use to hunker down on some complex problems evaporated. My most productive time ended up being the hour my office mates took for lunch.

Tomorrow it is supposed to be bitterly cold - well below freezing with winds up to 25 mph. A recipe for a miserable pedestrian commute. I am tempted to use that as an excuse to stay home and get a lot more work done!

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