Morning Ritch

Like clockwork, unless I've a meeting, I'm downstairs at 8:20 (plus or minus five) to get my tea and stir hot water into my bag of oatmeal and eat the bagel brought from home and grab a complimentary banana (aka Employee Benefit) and sit at a table with a couple of male contemporaries and bitch about the world and bird-watch. That the birds are professional women and fellow employees and often as not treasured acquaintances does not diminish the importance of the ritual.

If there's someone new about they'll usually comment on my breakfast, as it's apparently unusual to eat oatmeal straight out of the bag, using a napkin to insulate my hand from the heat. I always say it's wonderful what you can learn from a fourteen year old at nine thousand feet. Boy Scouts, to the quizzical look. No clean-up.

Back upstairs, further procrastination in the form of Facebook and a gander at the news. The former lately has not grabbed my attention. The latter usually does if I go to SfGate. Somehow they make it interesting as few other online rags do.

And what, you ask, were my first three article picks?

1. Pa. man considered bank error 'a gift from God'

A guy old enough to know better decided to keep a bank error and run off out of state. Well, who wouldn't, you might ask. If the bank slips the decimal point over, their problem, not mine. But no, still it's theft. Maybe moving to Florida and calling it a gift from God might have been a mistake, even if you do give it away to a church. Contrast this with the Madoff scam, and it's a reminder how much under the boot heel the little guy is compared to the real evil geniuses out there. Scary.

2. Twittersexuality

Curiosity compelled me to see what Violet Blue has to say about sex mixed with Twitter but frankly I couldn't read the whole thing (work is hammering me, I got to compress my time at this). Maybe you have to be a twitterer. Read it yourself. One thing, I generally like her writing but she used the non-word "moreso" and that word always annoys me. It is two words, folks. Nota bene.

3. Home sales soar as foreclosures drive down prices

I was arrested by the photo and caption: A typical example of Bay Area urban architecture ca. 1900 that sold for $557,600 a year and a half ago and again now for $106k. That's a $450,000 loss in twenty months. 80% of the value! And that's just one house. Think of all the fortunes lost and banks left hanging over the cliff and the current economic crisis comes as no surprise at all. But never mind that. If I still wanted to be a landlord I would be all over this market. I don't: Been there, it sucks. But others are, and I wonder what further social evolution will follow this trend of educated immigrants buying in to the American Dream and renting out to the working class families who weren't able to jump the trend. To me it's another affirmation that immigrant status and cultural background are as nothing compared to hard work and a focus on dreams, a fact both the left and the right seem incapable of keeping in mind.