Sunday, September 18, 2011

Sanity Check

I'm writing this from our motel room as I look out the window at the ocean.

Many people have criticised us for going on a week long vacation to the beach when they know we are trying to pay back debts and save for a house. To them, and any else who wonder why we would take such an expensive trip when that money could be going somewhere more useful: if you've been focused on something for a long while, especially something tiring, like debt repayment, you need to take a break from time to time. You need to take a sanity check to keep you focused and keep you from burning out. This vacation is such a check.

As I sit here, my wife reading, the waves crashing outside, I can feel my energy, and my resolve, returning, rebuilding, and restoring. When we return in a week, we will all be the better for it, and our efforts towards repayment, preparing and saving redoubling. The weariness has been fading from our faces, and we find ourselves telling the other We needed this.

If you find yourself getting burnt out, take a sanity check; not so much that it works against what you have worked so hard to do, but enough that you can find your stride again, and reset the pace you once kept.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Celestial Greetings

Most mornings, I get up early, shower, cook, eat, and leave for work before sunrise.

Often I will greet the moon (if still in the sky) and the sun when I first spot them in the day (especially while driving); just a simple good morning, Máni/Sunna typically.

This morning, however, I had greeted the moon (it seems that the likelihood of greeting is directly proportional to fullness) as normal however, a quarter hour later, when the sun rose directly behind me, rather than my usual, quiet greeting, I bellowed out loud and strong Good Morning, Sunna! Hail! Hail the Morning! Hail the New Day!

I rather surprised myself with my greeting, but it felt right, and I knew today would be a good day.

Thursday, September 01, 2011

Our Current Tax System

The following was written as part of a comment on one of my facebook statuses. It concerns only my thoughts on the tax code (spending is a separate issue for another post).

Our current tax system is a horrid thing that is riddled with loopholes purchased by lobbyists, most for corporations or entire industries. Our tax system is fragmented into different kinds of taxation to benefit one group over another. Our tax system is set up in such a way that for taxes on earned income, the more you earn, not only the more you pay, but the greater percentage. Lastly, our tax system is set up in such a way that it is possible that through write-offs, grants, subsidies, etc. it is possible to "pay" negative taxes, and actually receive tax money instead of paying it.