fredleo.com: “Small enough to care, big enough to feel cramped in coach.”

2) Son Unit is moving to a new place for college. We get to pack up his furniture, rent a truck, and drive it to his new place. Oh, and buy new bedding.  The only entertainment value in all this was listening to him explain a hesitance to purchase a particular  comforter” “I’m not sure I can sleep under something that’s trademarked ‘Super-Fluff.’”

3) Sold the Epiphone to an appreciative and talented young player.

4) All other projects forming and disintegrating as if a plasma.

fredleo.com: music for licensing, songs, voiceover, concepting and such.

In other critical matters, I reviewed the video below with Clapton, Cash and Carl Perkins. I’m not buying the hair, Carl.

Here’s why I think things continue to suck in a mighty way.

• The administration touts a job report as showing an improved economic condition nationally. Check the headline: “

Obama: Jobs Report Shows Economy Is Strengthening Day-By-Day

Yeah, see, here’s the thing. There were 431,000 new jobs. But that included 411,000 temporary census workers, and even that looks suspect.

• Shipping remains in a Guatemalan sink hole. When commodities are moving around the globe, things are being made and sold, the economic engine is engaged. Check the Baltic Dry Index. It’s uninspired. Rose-colored glasses are available, however, although you might also need heavy medication to accept the prognosis.
• Oh, look at the debt clock. It’s hypnotizing,  like plummeting to earth after you know your chute hasn’t opened.
• In the anecdotal department. I’ve been on eBay lately, trying to sell some stuff. Items that would have sold in a heartbeat two years ago, remain unsold.
• On my walk the other day I saw a “Reduced!” sign for some condos that have been languishing for two years. “From $149,000!” On the ground was the sign it replaced, which read “Grand opening. Condos from $179,000!” The next day, the “reduced sign was gone, leaving two stakes where a sign could go,  and the original “Grand opening” sign was still in the dirt.
• When I replaced my HVAC, someone picked up the furnace for scrap less than five minutes after we walked out the door with it.
• The mood. The Hope and Change hypnosis session is over. We’ve walked out of the bar after drinking all night into the harsh reality of the next morning. Not much good has happened in two years, so those who still want to believe and can’t bear feeling stupid have nothing to talk about except the last administration, or maybe Paul McCartney talking about the last administration. Then there’s the gulf, the heartbreak of the gulf. This bullet point could go on forever, so I’ll just stop here.
• Some say the economy is cyclical, and I think that’s true,  but any forecast on the cycles depends on a constant in the parameters, which we no longer have. Without constants, all one can do is make adjustments and recalculate. (see the debt clock above.)
• Some of the industries we have left, namely entertainment, communication and information, are in a wild state of flux, and while it’s annoying but reassuring that the old model of content supported by advertising is finding a home in the context of new technology, ideas like this out of Washington compensate for any hopefulness.
• “I, me, mine” on an endless loop in the echoplex.  Do you ever get the feeling we’re a little out of control with the ego thing? Everywhere we see “i” this and “my” or “mi” that, but don’t feel guilty about it; it was planned. I have the sense that this egocentric existence has unintended consequences. We can so easily tailor our news consuming habits (I’m including social media, though it may not qualify) to validate our points of view that we’re polarized and entrenched. Rarely in national politics these days do you sense people can agree on identifying a problem, let alone manage to solve one. I see no reason why this behavior will remain limited to national politics.

I look for the bright side when I can, but through a realist’s eyes. So far, I don’t see much to bring a genuine grin, except for the undeniable fact that I’m usually wrong.