The Week That Was!

Newspaper - Prisoners pit wits against Cambridge's elite debaters
A news story that was positive and made me a bit teary eyed. We need more positive stories like this. Nobody is born bad or good. We all deal with the circumstances that life deals us. Some of us seem to do fine while some others need extra help. When people like the orange monkey (apologies to real monkeys) and his family get away with stuff that is akin to murder it is unfortunate that the jails in this country are populated with and lots of local governments are run on the backs of poor people who cannot afford to pay their small tiny debts.

Another Study ‘Organic’ Food From China Found To Be Highly Contaminated
If you are buying organic vegetables and if the label says they are from China, will you still buy it? I have learned that we don't have to buy everything organic and not everything organic is even necessary. How about organic ice cream cones?

Buying organic fruits and vegetables I think is a good idea but certain vegetables being organic is better than others. Fruits like oranges and bananas even if you don't buy organic might be not all that bad. Few others like strawberries etc., organic might be better. But would I pay extra for fruits and vegetables that come from China marked as organic? Probably Not! I'd rather buy conventional produce grown here in the US.

I would buy organic from countries who have stricter laws regarding food but from countries which are corrupt and wouldn't care about making a few extra bucks by labeling a product organic because some gullible public is willing to shell out money?

So learning where food is grown is probably as important as reading those nutritional labels. Better yet visit a local farm and become familiar with your local farmer. You might learn a thing or two about where food comes from and also appreciate what you put in your body.

TV
Now that we have cancelled we are back to watching a lot of PBS shows. I have watched Seasons 1 and 2 of Unforgotten and enjoyed it, this is Season 3. Well made and gripping as always.

Like what you are reading? Subscribe!

The Weeks That Was!

The last few 3 weeks have been busy that this space has been slacked on. Spring time is the prettiest around here but there is no time to sit back and enjoy the prettiness. When winter says its long goodbye everything else needs attention.

Reading has taken a back seat but found some interesting stuff to watch on TV.


TV
The Fix

Do you remember the OJ Simpson trial? Then you should remember the much maligned Marcia Clark the prosecutor. It probably was not conceivable at that time since every comedian in town was making fun of her, but it is not surprising that she landed in Hollywood. She is also an author now, so she co-wrote and produces this short series. Go Marcia! I am big fan of legal thrillers so it goes without saying that I am watching this now.

Newspaper
Saw this interesting article in the newspaper and articles like this always are good to read.
Washington Post - This Appalachian town was America’s ‘fattest city.’ Here’s how it slimmed down.






Like what you are reading? Subscribe!

The Week That Was!

We turned off Prime and it turned out to be a blessing in disguise as we found other ways to use the time.

Two news stories last week that affected me was of course the college admissions scandal and the shootings in New Zealand. We knew in our hearts that New Zealand would stand up and do the right thing and along with it a sinking feeling that incidents like this will continue to happen in the US because our politicians prefer not doing anything and reading opinion pieces like this and this is all I seem to be able to do.

The other news story was about how rich paid money to get college seats. The news wasn't particularly surprising. How is it different from what Fred Trump, Donald Trump, Charles Kushner and even legacy admissions do for that matter? Why is that the rest of the populace who does not have the money or a parent who went to one of these top colleges have to struggle so much harder without knowing what to do to get into these colleges?

https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/an-investigative-journalist-on-how-parents-buy-college-admissions.


Movies

Watched The Green Book. Extremely well made movie in spite of its slow pace it keeps the viewer engrossed. Fantastic acting and based off a true story this movie is worth watching.





Like what you are reading? Subscribe!

The Week That Was!

If you feel like you are in jet lag and groggy in the morning this week you can blame it on the Spring Forward. Last week every news channel was full of news about how this DST (Daylight Savings Time) causes more accidents and tend to make people feel like they are in jet lag. I have mixed feelings about this. The first few days of waking up earlier than we have to because of this clock shifting and also it being dark when we have to step out of the house bugs me but in the evenings I am actually happier that it is brighter outside for longer.

Newspaper
We have weekend delivery of the newspaper and it takes a whole week to finish reading it. Works just right for us. I read this interesting article about parenting, yes that again. Every parent I come across is busy over the weekend and in the evenings during the week, shuttling kids from one activity to another. I am not really sure if this gives kids an edge in whatever life race they are participating in but let's hope so. I am partial to sports so I shuttle them around if they are in some sports. Second time around with DD2 we are just smarter. I do not get nervous when some parent tells me a fancy activity their child is participating in. I resisted a lot of the stuff while being nervous that I am not giving them every little advantage but lethargy and unwillingness to shuttle them all over town kept me from doing it. I let the kids take the lead and if they insist then I give in. Anyway why are we forced to do all this stuff? Economics! What drives intensive parenting? Income Inequality!!. Maybe we should all step back and give childhood back to the children and let them play instead of being in some coaching, training or whatever class they are in.

Online

Do you get angry with your kids? This is something that has been practiced for a long time. Maybe we can learn something from it. A Playful Way To Teach Kids To Control Their Anger

Girls Night In - Apparently this e-newsletter is all the rage among the millennial set.

Network TV
Now that we don't have Amazon Prime back to finding shows that come for free (Not free exactly we pay for cable because it is cheaper bundled!). It can be free if you have over the air antennae. I usually watch it 'On Demand' when I have time. Anything that is a lawyer or crime drama I am watching it till of course it gets boring or I can't stand one of the characters.

Like what you are reading? Subscribe!

The Week That Was!

With so many electronics at our disposal, it is very hard not to watch something or the other. Believe me or not I am the TV junkie. I am not sure if I listen to it all the time or not but I find it comfortable that it is in the background especially when I am cooking or folding laundry.

With DD off in college there is not much conversation going on in the house. DD2 does not think we are cool enough to have a conversation with :( I mean compared to a lot of teens her age, she is pretty easy going. But one thing we all have in common is watching shows on TV. So far we have successfully watched all 7 seasons of The Closer. Winter time it gives us something to do.

Now we are onto a new series.

Online Streaming
The Killing

The Killing, a series that was telecast on AMC and is now on Amazon Prime. The show is based off of a Danish TV Series. European TV series compared to their American counterparts are dark, less violent but more psychological and intense. This one is about a female detective trying to find out who killed a teenage girl and the back stories of the victims as well as the detective themselves.


This Giant Beast That is the Global Economy

This is a series that everybody should watch. Host Kal Penn does a good job of keeping the series entertaining even if it is dealing with things like money laundering, how to off shore tax havens operate etc., If you have watched Big Short you know the director Adam McKay and this one has the same quirky and entertaining way of saying a story.

FIRE
Read this article in the Business Insider about what this lady did for her early retirement.

A woman who retired early at 38 says 4 strategies can help anyone save big without pinching pennies.

There is nothing that can beat being financially independent in your mid thirties but retiring, well you don't have to retire instead have the security at the back of your mind to have the freedom to do whatever you want instead of being a wage slave.

Like what you are reading? Subscribe!

The Week That Was!

After my serious binge watching crisis, I went back to some online reading and also made a trip to the local library from which I had taken a hiatus. I blame it on being busy with other things but whom am I kidding really?

Online
Let Children Get Bored Again
You know what? If you are one of those parents who feels guilty for not spending every minute of your waking hours catering to your child, you are doing something right. Let the kids be bored maybe they will learn a thing or two to do on their own without a parent being there all the time.

Let me not start on those parents at my children's school who I thought were teachers working there till I realized one day they are parents volunteering in their children's classrooms. Every Day!! Even the time in the school the children cannot be away from them.

A Suspense Novelist’s Trail of Deceptions
If you have read this guy's book 'The Woman in the Window'(I have not) his life seems even more twisted with all the deceptions and lies. What is with this publishing business and the people who promote those books?

No thank you, Mr. Pecker
The article heard around the world. Orange man's best friend Pecker tried to blackmail the richest man in the world. Should applaud his courage even if it meant salacious details spilling out - "If in my position I can’t stand up to this kind of extortion, how many people can?"

I Cut the 'Big Five' Tech Giants From My Life. It Was Hell
Have you ever thought of removing Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Facebook from your life and see what happens? Yes just turn the clock back to 15 years ago and that is how we lived our lives. There are plenty of people in other parts of the world who still live their lives this way. I know I will never do it :(

FIRE
It is kind of disconcerting to be told from when a child is born that they have to save for retirement. Everywhere you turn around it seems that is the only thing people talk about when talking about getting people's financial lives in order. Habits learned in childhood and early adult years are not easy to be discarded when it becomes expensive so it is never too early I guess to be told that saving for retirement is required.

Anyway while for the FIRE crowd, retire early is the mantra that makes them strive towards financial independence for me it was more for the freedom that financial independence would bring from my work enslavement. Enslavement you ask? That it is what it is for a lot of people. If you ask most people usually it is not the job that gets them it is the people who they work for. It was no different for me. I am sorry to say but the female bosses were the worst. The bad reputation for mid level managers is not unjustified in my opinion. Lack of training and complete incompetence usually goes with the territory and is the norm rather than the exception.

Most of us have this fear of losing what we have and it was no different with me. I have caved in, kept my mouth shut and shrugged off. This kept the peace at work but left me fuming inside for not having spoken up. Keeping peace is why lots of people put up with bull s**t!. I have seen some appalling behavior towards colleagues who don't open their mouth. Managers behave badly towards them and work keeps getting dumped on them.

So I decided in my early twenties that in the next 20 years I would do everything in my powers so I don't end up being a work slave all my life. So started making financial decisions that would give me the independence to chuck it all if it comes to that. The opportunity came recently and I took it.

The steps that I took coming up in the next installment.

Like what you are reading? Subscribe!

The Week That Was! - Binge Watching!

Streaming
Binge Watching
Last week was a lazy one. I binge watched a show on Amazon Prime. It was about women farmers in the bush in Australia which I had started the week before. I got a little too involved. While US shows have 15 episodes in a season this show had close to 30 episodes. My binge watching was starting to get on the nerves of everyone in the house. By DD2's calculation I had watched about 90 hours of TV in about a week. Quite shameful really. I am glad after 3 seasons they killed off the main character and my binge watching was quickly coming to a close.

From Allfinweb - Illustration Of A Funny

Why did I binge watch this particular show? Curiosity about what happened to one of the main characters in the show (time on my hands and postponing everything else that needed to be done) and unfortunately this was not the character they killed off in the show. Once I had finally found out what happened to the character my interest in the show died a natural death. I normally watch shows where the story starts and finishes in one episode. There is really no motivation to binge watch these shows. But when I start watching drama shows and my impatience to know the story line gets me into binge watching. Online availability means I carry my device to whichever place no matter what I am doing.

Normally with a season lasting less than a dozen episodes it wasn't a huge problem. Couple of shows a day and I was done but this one being 30 per season and all seasons being available right there was too much of a temptation.

Binge watching like binge eating comes with its own set of problems. My normal schedule got affected. I am used to getting very early in the morning but late night binge watching made me tired the whole day and I was postponing things that had to be done to the next day. Hmmm! Not very cool at all. What would I have done if either DD or DD2 got into binge watching something?

Anyway I wondered what will be the effects of someone sitting that long in front of the TV set. What are the adverse health effects? Besides neck and back pain from sitting in front of the TV for that long, I was starting to not be able to concentrate on any particular thing for too long but waiting for that moment when I can resume the show. Pretty Pathetic! I know!

I also deluded myself into thinking that I can control addiction. While this might not be as bad as some of the addictions, came pretty close and clearly revealed the dangers of being addicted to anything. While binge watching shows have a natural end point how about those habits that do not have a natural end point?

When I started searching about the health effects of binge watching, most seem to suggest that watching shows at night and sleep deprivation were bad and to binge watch starting earlier in the day. I mostly did it during the day and I don't think it is any better than doing it at night. Feeling guilt and a bit ashamed and slowly starting to feel depressed were all soon to follow. Luckily for me I snapped out of it.

If you are even an occasional binge watcher it is important to keep in mind what can happen. Read this link The Effects of Binge Watching.

Amid all the binge watching I occasionally glanced at a few articles.

Online Newspaper
A Diet to Save the World
If you follow a predominantly vegetarian diet or a flexitarian diet hold on to it. It might be the key to saving the planet. Cutting down on red meat and increasing the intake of pulses and lentils might save your health and the planet.

1. New plant-focused diet would ‘transform’ planet’s future, say scientists
2. Change your diet to combat climate change in 2019
3. Link to the study in Lancet - www.thelancet.comJanuary, 2019. A Commission by The Lancet “Food in the Anthropocene represents one of the greatest health and environmental challenges of the 21st century.” Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT –Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems
   

Like what you are reading? Subscribe!

The Week That Was!

Last Week was pretty quiet, a tiny bit of jet lag that made get up very early in the morning. I got up and made use of the quiet early morning hours to get some stuff that needed to be done, done.

Which means at about 10 or 11 in the morning it feels like I need some downtime and that is how I ended up watching shows which I have skipped over many times.




Amazon Prime
McLeod's Daughters

Set in rural Australia, on a cattle ranch co-owned by 2 sisters and being run along with 3 other women, has drama worthy of keeping one engrossed for hours. It did me :). So for gorgeous views of the Australian country side and some good acting and a gripping story watch this.

I have seen this lady swimming at the pool for a number of years now, then I stopped seeing her for a few years. Then I ran into her and got to chatting. She said that she was in Australia for work for a few years and she wishes she were still there. What she liked most is the laid back lifestyle and their approach to parenting. This lady had young kids. I have read and heard about the Aussie spirit and watching this show will offer you glimpse into some of that.

Newspaper
Bloomberg article on AOC's 70% income tax. When I first heard of it I was thinking "here go these liberal democrats". But when I watched the 60 Minutes it was clear that she mentioned the 10 millionth dollar will be taxed at that level. Who likes taxes and some of the not so rich people would end up paying the higher rate and some of the not rich people would be caught up in that. That does not mean that some of these mega million earners should not do their part. Starting with the Reagan revolution, the Gingrich disasters doing your part seems to have become unpatriotic. Allowing people with lesser means to take the bulk of the burden while they the richies like our President using high priced accountants and lawyers can even avoid not only paying but allowing the government to pay to them. Pretty Patriotic stuff!

FIRE
While FIRE is on fire among the millennial set, it should probably get popular among a lot more of us older people as well. We all went through another annual shutdown episode which even given it lasted longer than usual, but unlike the other times there was a lot of news about people suffering. I know life is hard and that living paycheck to paycheck happens to a lot of low income earners because the great USA does not have some of the safety nets that other Western democracies seem to have. As things get more and more expensive it is absolutely understandable that this happens.

But let us move on to some of the higher income earners like my relatively young colleague with a wife and a child for example. He makes salary which is about say $125000 or so and one day he was looking at his gas bill and was worried if it went over $250, reason he might not be able to pay it. I was shocked twice, one that the gas bill was a bit steep for just 2 people and two that he cannot afford to pay the gas bill if it exceeded that amount. What was he doing with all the money he made? Their life style I am guessing had a lot to do with that. I sat next to him so we discussed dealing with finances his mostly, him asking how we managed etc.,. His wife does not like to do things around the house, unless his MIL was around they ate out almost everyday he after swallowing a pill to control his blood sugar. Another incident with this same guy was what threw me off and left me wondering...

His wife's birthday was the next day and he had purchased a handbag (about $200 worth) and was ready to present it to her but his wife after knowing about it sent him a nasty text accusing him of not caring about her. Nasty is too nice of a way to put it. It was downright mean and disgusting. Why the nastygram? It was because he did not buy 2 of the same handbag in different colors like she had demanded. The drama was for that! Maybe this kind of lifestyle is what forces some people to live paycheck to paycheck? How do you break this cycle?

I am not a true adherent of FIRE meaning, retiring early was not part of the equation of why I wanted to achieve Financial Independence. The reason was something else altogether. Most people consider living within their means or even living modestly to be shameful. But it does not, it gives you more freedom to do what you want. To be continued...

Like what you are reading? Subscribe!

The Week That Was!

Not too much by way of entertainment last week but plenty in terms of fun. After 15 years I was in India for the Pongal festival. As festivals go this one is not fun like Deepavali but it has special meaning for all people of Tamil origin.

Celebrated Suriya Pongal at my in-laws and then celebrated Mattu Pongal at my brother in law's farm. Cooking Pongal on an open fire gets everyone to participate so this was fun for people of all ages.

Books
Being on vacation I also managed to read the "Your Money Or your Life", the book that was DD's Christmas gift. It is a must read book for anybody starting to earn money and start an independent life. Even if your goal is not to retire by 30 this book will give enough pointers to have a healthy relationship with money.

Newspaper
Living at home, at home with nature
Browsing through the newspaper while visiting my uncle this article in The Hindu caught my eye.

Organo a community near Hyderabad which combines nature with living. It is kind of having cake and eating it too. I am not exactly how affordable these homes are and going by experience this kind of living with nature is probably possible only with a certain level of affluence. The article does not say if the residents are required to participate in the farm life or there are farmers who do that.

It will be fantastic if when new communities are developed to have a rain water harvesting system and community vegetable gardens for the residents to participate in. Probably reduce the claustrophobic nature of living in concrete jungles.

Like what you are reading? Subscribe!

The Week That Was - 2

The Week That Was 2 (continuation of last week)

There was a lot of visits and nostalgia associated that it had to be split into 2 parts :) Here is Part 1.

Kaval Deivam - Village Deity

Kaval Deivam - Village Deity

Like what you are reading? Subscribe!