It’s the time of year when we’re all in a very good mood. The Sharks won last night capping the best start in their era and one of the best in National Hockey League history. The rain was light. People seemed festive in Downtown and Valley Fair, although a bit harried in the latter stop.
I tried to return a purchase to a store in Westfield Mall, and was told that they couldn’t accept it, because they were going out of business and were in bankruptcy to boot—when I pursued this with the manager of Whitechapel Jewelry store, the person in charge told me that she was not really an employee, but just worked for the receiver. Oh. Not exactly the Christmas spirit, and I began to understand their current dilemma, but I accepted the excuse and ended up in the Apple store with no excuses just one hell of a product to play with.
Maybe that’s the lesson for the day.
When things are done right, say, the San Jose Sharks (full disclosure: I proudly belong to the ownership group) people love it. When they are fed an inferior product like the Warriors, they don’t appreciate it. It’s a simple equation in sports, commerce, or politics.
And now turning to politics, we have the story and picture of the day—our President-in-waiting (and are we ever tired of waiting) with his shirt off, playing in the surf, and showing a pretty darn good six- pack. Once again it was evocative of Camelot, bringing to mind JFK in a swimsuit in the Florida surf, looking rather buff, a swimmer and a hunk.
Now don’t get me wrong, good abs are not what we need in Chief Executive, as we found out recently when a fit George Bush exhibited a flabby and unused mind, bringing us to the brink of fiscal and military disaster.
Change is near. I like the feel of it. A Shark win, a day in our city filled with people of hope and endurance. Things are going to be fine, and it’s the right thought for a Christmas Eve morning.
I hope others have a good thought today as we count our blessings, and hope for a tranquil Christmas and a hopeful New Year.
Tom, you are right, we’re a tough bunch and we will survive these difficult times. The beauty of our economy going through this is, that we are all finding out what really matters, and it is one another!
Merry Christmas everyone! Be safe, don’t drink and drive, enjoy the spirit of loving, giving, family and friends!
Happy Christmas to everyone at San Jose Insider and all of your readers.
A minor Christmas Story. My nephew has some severe learning disabilities. He has been a big fan of the University of Miami Hurricanes. Well, they are in the Emerald Bowl this year and they heard of Dennis’ interest and they made him a special guest at their closed practice and the entire team stood with him for a Merry Christmas wish.
That is a Christmas memory.
Abs vs. flab…
As I recall JFK enjoyed such a close relationship with the more deferential press of the era that his beach and sailing pictures were staged by them, with JFK admonishing the photographer to avoid getting any profile shots of his ample breast, kidding that it was a family trait not viewed as very macho, and not a profile in courage he wished to promote… In fact it was the result of his medications and his fear was that it might provoke speculation as to his health…
Not to mention that it isn’t viewed as very macho…
I too share your optimism for the future even, or maybe especially, in the face of all the bad news coming across the wires.
Sometimes you can view the progress of a people just as you would the progress of a person, an individual needs a break every once in a while to assimilate and eliminate… To digest, process and regroup. The lag between our early November elections and the late January Inauguration has provided us just such a moment, a moment that the People have used to take stock, to mend and to contemplate the disastrous expanse of the last eight years and to consider how best to move forward.
It has also been a “dumping” time, a great time to dump bad news, if there are anymore Madoff’s or Omar’s out there, take my advice and find a publicist and a good defense lawyer and get out there now while you have some cover!
‘Cause come next year we have to roll up our sleeves and get back to work…
RGJ/Dallas112263
You think things are bad now? Just wait until your messiah bankrupts the country with even more wastful government spending and higher taxes on everyone.
You ain’t seen nothing yet.
Just wanted to say a big merry christmas to all the bankers and investors who are swimming in all that 5 trillion dollars worth of fine government cheese:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_crisis_of_2008
“As of mid-November 2008, it was estimated that the new loans, purchases, and liabilities of the Federal Reserve, the US Treasury, and FDIC, brought on by the financial crisis, totalled over $5 trillion: $1 trillion in loans by the Fed to broker-dealers through the emergency discount window, $1.8 trillion in loans by the Fed through the Term Auction Facility, $700 billion to be raised by the Treasury for the Troubled Assets Relief Program, $200 billion insurance for the GSEs by the Treasury, and $1.5 trillion insurance for unsecured bank debt by FDIC.”
for this paragraph, wikipedia cites:
http://www.forbes.com/2008/11/12/paulson-bernanke-fed-biz-wall-cx_lm_1112bailout.html
#5 Hugh: While I don’t think of Bush as a Messiah, I do note that he has already pretty much bankrupt the country with wasteful government spending.
That’s who you meant, right?
“Things will get worse before they get better.”
2009 will sting a little, like a booster shot, but hopefully TMc is right and we at least get back on a healthy diet of working hard and creating value once again.
I look forward to this new year, and I hope everyone else does too. We don’t all have to agree with Obama and the new vision, but hopefully we can learn the difference between constructive and destructive criticism. Both ends of the political spectrum need to get better at this.
HJ #5,
I just don’t see putting Americans to work and rebuilding our country after 8 disastrous years as being “wasteful,” and what’s wrong with multi-zillionaires paying a couple of hundred bucks more in taxes anyway. HAPPY HOLIDAYS ALL!!