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THE FORGOTTEN MAN by Amity Shlaes – Book Discussion [Part 2]

29 Saturday Apr 2017

Posted by chadwickheller in blog, Book Review, books, debt, Discussion, friend, home, House, job, Life, Non Fiction, rain, time, Today, work

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Admittedly the first and second chapters of Amity Shlaes THE FORGOTTEN MAN are rather clunky – however, if you press on a, (as I like to call it) clarity-in-hindsight occurs where the argument being made in the beginning chapters begin to reveal themselves. Despite the book continuing to be a slow read, I am enjoying the later chapters far more.

Chapter three is where discussion of the Great Depression begins; or at least, where history likes to give it a starting point; October 29, 1929. The build up to this however, was years in the making. This is where the ‘clarity-in-hindsight’ aspect comes into play as Shlaes recap of the prosperity of the 1920’s among a wide range of industries is referenced. The feeling that people did not know how to adjust to the prosperity and take adequate precautions emerges. ‘Panics’ in the stock market were not new – the best way to handle them, however, varied greatly that when ‘black Tuesday’ occurred – there was not a consensus on how to handle it.

The Forgotten ManConflicting opinions in regards to how to handle the stock market crash and the subsequent recession – and what part the government should play in helping to alleviate the economic hardships is where I begin PART 2 of THE FORGOTTEN MAN book discussion.

After the crash – one of the first financial plagues to sweep the country was deflation. Money was becoming scarce and, in some areas, non-existent due to it’s increased value. People could not afford the money issued by the Federal Reserve so some communities improvised by creating their own currency such as the vallar which was developed for a short time in Salt Lake City, Utah. Other communities developed barter systems.

Although these alternative currencies allowed people to make day-to-day purchases from merchants that accepted them, the money wasn’t an acceptable form of payment for the payback of mortgages and other bank issued loans. Citizens weren’t the only ones seeking a way out of the financial problems. The government decided to get idea’s about how to help the economy from elsewhere – and with, what appeared to be the recent success of the Russian Revolution, that ‘elsewhere’ was, indeed, Russia. Later in the book, Shlaes points out that the US government also was looking at Mussolini’s Italy to get ideas on how to confront the USA’s economic woes.

What I found interesting is how much experimenting was taking place both in the US and the world when it came to dealing with the economy. There were two new forms of governments that had emerged – both centralized in nature; Lenin’s form of Communism in Russia and Mussolini’s fascism in Italy. Democracy in the USA, as anyone knows, is an ongoing experiment. At the time of the Great Depression, the Federal Reserve was new – as it was created in 1913 and many banks were not part of it’s centralized money system.

In some aspects it was like the blind leading the blind trying to find the best solution in dealing with an expanding economy and a growing country. A lot of the proposed solutions of the Great Depression were the result of guess-work. The rise of the so-called ‘alphabet agencies’ of Roosevelt’s New Deal were the result of this guess-work; his experimenting.

Putting people back to work in whatever capacity was a clear goal of Roosevelt, the plan was to reinvigorate the economy with jobs, even if the government was the one footing the bill for it. Another experiment was finding the best way to, essentially, control the value of the dollar. Should the US be on the gold standard? Should the US leave the gold standard? The answer to this was debated and resulted in some indecisiveness.

Meanwhile parts of Europe were growing weary – Chancellor Hitler of Germany had entered the political arena and pulled the fledgling Wiemar republic out of it’s depression and was already leading the country into a reconstruction stage. In an effort to protect their gold – people began sending it (or returning it) to the United States for safe keeping.

One thing that appears evident is that Roosevelt believed that, in one way or another, it was the government’s responsibility to get the US out of the depression. That without the government’s careful guidance of the economy there would be no recovery. He perhaps got this notion from Russia (which soon would be recognized as the Soviet Union) or even from Mussolini – regardless he didn’t seem to believe that the economy, left to its own devices would save itself. And that ultimately is the crux argument that Shlaes is attempting to make; that Roosevelt’s interference in the economy enhanced the depression instead of relieving the country from it.

I’ll have further thoughts in Part 3…

Anticipations

16 Sunday Apr 2017

Posted by chadwickheller in blog, books, cat, debt, friend, home, House, job, Life, Money, rain, time, Today, Trump

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Easter morning started at 3:30am for me, not for any religious reason – I just badly wanted to finish the book I was reading (The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough). Right now I’m contemplating what I want to eat for lunch.

The weather isn’t as bright and cheery as it was yesterday. It appears that at any moment it could rain and I am anticipating a down pour.

But that is alright.

It came to my realization a few weeks ago that the reason it is so difficult for me to work on my “Bad Dinosaur” project is that it carries with it so much baggage. It was a project that my [former] best friend and I were supposed to be working on together.  A lot of the ideas behind it were the results of brainstorming between him and I.

And that has created a mental road block when trying to work on it.

So I am going to divert my attention elsewhere – to an entirely different project all together. And this morning I spent a little bit of time outlining that project. How that project will ultimately manifest itself is unknown to me at the time.

I figure that I will begin it once my “Daily Donald Trump Political Notebook” is finished – that would be the 90 page notebook that I hand-write a daily essay about the Trump administration in. I have 13 more blank pages to go before that is complete. The notebook has been a nice way for me to get into the habit of writing on a daily basis. Although, I will admit that there was a 10 day period where I didn’t write a single word as I was trying to come to grips with my [former] best friend vanishing on me.

When that notebook is done, I think that I will also log off Twitter so I can focus on the new writing project. Perhaps even this blog will go on the back-burner for a short time.

I need things to start looking up for me.

That’s all I know right now.

This little life of mine

15 Saturday Apr 2017

Posted by chadwickheller in anger, books, cat, home, House, Life, Money, rain, time, Today, work

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Spring is here – the forecast originally called for storms today, but Michigan thought that a sunny, 80 degree day would be much better. Considering how my week has gone, this change in the weather is very welcome.

After Wednesday, my week finally began to mellow out. The basement is in the process of drying up and not too many eventful things have happened. It is a pleasant 180 from last weekend that included a flooded basement, a flat tire and rejecting a potential roommate.

The past two days I’ve spent being rather ‘lazy’. I did spend a considerable amount of time today cleaning up the house. I vacuumed for the first time in about two months and did various other things I’ve been neglecting.

I have also been reading a lot. I finally finished that (dull) post office book that could have been so much better. I recently started David McCullough’s THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD and I am enjoying that quite a lot. The book is so well written I am visualizing some of the terrifying scene’s he’s depicting and they give me shivers.

Lately I’ve had a strong desire to just read non-fiction. I’m not sure why this is. I tend to gravitate towards non-fiction when I’m depressed – which I still am. I’m trying to figure out how to pay all of this month’s bills which has me considerably stressed. My roommate said that he’d cover the utility bill, but until I see the money for that, it’s still going to be my problem.

I renewed the ad I have on Craigslist in the hopes of finding a new roommate, but I shouldn’t get my hopes up right now. My [former] best friend really threw my life into a loop when he left and it’s been quite the struggle ever since.

I catch myself at least once a day trying not to break down.

Things will get better I’m told.

But when?

A Victory of Sorts

12 Wednesday Apr 2017

Posted by chadwickheller in books, Coffee, home, House, job, Life, Money, rain, time, Today

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After 12 hours of working on my basement yesterday – I was pleased to go down their this morning to see that the floor was indeed drying up.

I was so exhausted yesterday that I even took the night off from work, which will have future implications I’m sure.

For now however, I’m celebrating a victory of sorts.

More rain is expected this week, so the battle may not be completely over, however other area’s that the nearby river flooded are beginning to go down, so I might be good.

I’m also beginning a new book; THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD by David McCullough just because it seems fitting.

This river, it’s at flood level

11 Tuesday Apr 2017

Posted by chadwickheller in home, House, Life, rain, snow, time, Today, work

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The Grand River in Michigan is at flood level – it’s the highest it’s been since 2013; the ground is heavily saturated with water and it wants to go somewhere.

So it forced its way into my basement.

I, of course was not aware of this until I called the city council to inquire about whether or not there was a sewer back up. I also went online and did some rudimentary research in order to help ease my mind.

With in minutes I found out about the flooding going on all along the Grand River, and within a half hour a person who works for my city checked the sewer and kindly came to my door to tell me that the sewer isn’t backed up, that ground water is most likely getting into my basement and that many people are experiencing this as well.

I found all of this reassuring. Sometimes when unfortunate things happen, it helps a lot to be given a rationale reason as to why it is happening.

When I got home this morning, I knew there would be some water in the basement considering that it had rained most of yesterday evening. I immediately began to sop it up with a sponge and was making considerable progress when suddenly I saw that the water was beginning to get deeper.

It was slow at first and I didn’t think too much of it until I began to notice that the water was forming puddles in areas of the basement that it hadn’t before.

This got concerning.

So I got up from the step I was sitting on and took a soggy walk around the basement just to discover that the lid to the sewer drainage was floating in a rather large puddle. That’s when I started to worry and wanted a more definitive answer to what was going on.

At the beginning of 2016, the previous owner of my house had made an insurance claim in order to water proof the basement. Even upon purchasing the house I was informed that occasionally I’d see some “wet spots” in the basement.

Two inches of standing water is quite different than a few “wet spots”.

Since the river is at flood stage, and it will remain at flood stage for a couple more days, right now I’m going to chalk the situation up to there being excessive water in the ground. I’ll keep an eye on the basement situation – but right now trying to do anything about it is a losing battle.

I did move some of my [former] best friends stuff to higher locations so they wouldn’t get damaged by the water – however I’m not sure what compelled me to do this since I am planning on throwing it all away soon – kind of like what he did to our friendship.

 

 

[I will] Get Through This

09 Sunday Apr 2017

Posted by chadwickheller in blog, car, cat, Coffee, debt, friend, home, House, job, Life, Money, rain, time, Today, work

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The last of the remaining water in the basement I just finished mopping up. I would not be surprised if there is a bit more in a few hours, however I think the worst of it is over.

Until the storms move in on Monday that is.

Although there was no precipitation yesterday or today, and there isn’t supposed to be any tomorrow either, I’m not sure if the ground is dry enough to take on another surge of rain. So I’m hoping that the storms we are supposed to get on Monday aren’t as heavy as the predictions are saying.

I don’t feel like dealing with another flooded basement for at least a week.

On Friday morning when I first saw what I was up against in regards to the water in the basement, I didn’t think that I’d ever see an end to the battle. Maybe because there is enough bad luck coming my way this year, this new challenge just didn’t seem too promising. But with a mop, a plastic tote box and a lot of persistence, I was able to prevail.

It did take a few sessions because once I got the basement dry, the water would slowly seep back in. But each time that I went back down there and did more mopping, the task took less time and became less frustrating.

It was something that I could deal with – despite it feeling overwhelming.

That will be the case for quite some time from now on as I try to figure out this new situation that I’m in. I’ll need to discipline myself to stick to a tight budget in order to cover the portion of the mortgage that my [former] best friend stuck with me. I’ll need to stay focused.

Will I have tough times in the days and months ahead? I’m sure of it.

Considering that my [former] best friend left EVERYTHING of his that he’s ever owned since childhood here at the house – I do believe that he will, someday, try and come back for it. That day I perceive, will be a tough day.

Does he know that I’ve gotten rid of at least 50% of his belongings? (And I’ll continue to get rid of more in the days and weeks to come).

How will he respond?

I’m not sure I even care any more.

His leaving has left me in the position where I’m wondering if I’ll even be able to afford the house any more.

The waves of depression that I get hit with aren’t as strong as they were weeks ago, but they still come and they still pull me under. I just wish that he had given me some sort of notice before just leaving.

So I didn’t have to lose valuable weeks in trying to figure out what exactly had happened (and I still don’t know what exactly has happened!) Now I’m in this emergency mode where I can’t figure out a solution to how to come up with an extra $300 a month – and still be able to pay my other bills.

Right now I’m taking advantage of ‘grace periods’ when I can.

It’s the utility bill that hasn’t arrived yet that has me the most worried. Whenever I try to budget a certain amount for it, it’s always higher than I anticipate.

I won’t be able to handle a high utility bill this month.

Challenges.

I’ll face them with the same determination and persistence I had when I was drying out the flooded basement. The waters will recede and things will return to some form of normal again.

I’ll do absolutely anything to dam this rising flood

08 Saturday Apr 2017

Posted by chadwickheller in blog, books, cat, friend, home, House, job, Life, Money, rain, snow, time, Today, work

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This morning upon returning home from work I discovered that there was a lot of water in my basement, so with the aid of a mop and an old tote box, I spent nearly 3 hours getting as much water off the floor as possible. When I finished, the basement was almost free of water, however now – nearly 9 hours later – it is beginning to fill up again.

I’ll devote more time to it later this evening.

The reason for all the water is due to an early summer Winter Storm that came through the area that dumped large amounts of snow and rain in my already heavily saturated area.  Although the previous owners of my house spent upwards of $5,000 getting the basement “leak proof”, the water still found a way to get in. My plan of action is to deal with this current situation and monitor the area for future issues.

I do believe the water in the basement is the result of the peculiar weather we had yesterday because this is the first time since moving in that any water has appeared in the basement – and we’ve had some intense severe storms move through that dumped a considerable amount of rain – and none of that ended up in the basement.

In other news: I’m still searching for a roommate. I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to cover my bills this month – keeping in mind that I need to set aside an extra $300. I believe that I’ll be able to do it, but it will be a challenge.

For the past several days I’ve been reading this book about the history of the US Post Office  (by Winifred Gallagher) and how it helped to shape and, essentially, create the USA as we know it today.  The book is quite interesting and for some peculiar reason I am considering it a good companion book to another one of my favorite American history books called American Canopy  by Eric Rutkow.

Although Gallagher’s book is about how a rather progressive institution helped to create America into what it is today and the other is about how America’s unique, unadulterated (at the time) natural resources (tree’s) helped to shape America’s cultural landscape – how these two things intertwine is what I find fascinating. Clearly neither book delves into the counterparts topic – but you can see the parallels in how they connect. For instance, numerous of the towns that got the early post offices were early mill towns – and in several aspects, the hunt for lumber was the pretext for quite a bit of American  expansion.

I’d easily include these books as required reading for students, because then you can *see* how politics and day to day life – and nature intertwine to create the world that we live in. Today our politics, nature, culture, religion etc. are all so compartmentalized that it gets tough to see how one corresponds with the other – and make no mistake about it, they do correspond with each other.

The town that I currently live in in Michigan for instance owes it’s existence to the early furniture industry AND the Mennonites; neither of which have much of a modern day presence here. Yes, the founding of my current town once exported wooden chairs all over the USA. The old chair factory made gained so much business that they had to seek out a larger location and before the turn of the century (1900) had to relocate elsewhere. But upon moving, a sprawling town had already emerged.

The chair factory had so much wood left in it’s old factory in my town that after the company left, the town used the left over wood to build a bridge to get across the river. The foundation of the old factory is considered a historic landmark to this day.

It goes without saying that this town probably would not exist if it weren’t for the lumber industry that attracted job seekers who later developed the town – a town that soon required a post office to keep in contact with other growing areas.

As a personal note: the only reason that I haven’t been able to just zip right through the book about the post office’s role in America is because my mind has been heavily preoccupied with other life events. It’s been a little tough to remain focused.

Denton Little’s Lesson On #Life

06 Thursday Apr 2017

Posted by chadwickheller in blog, books, cat, friend, home, House, Life, Money, rain, snow, time, Today, work

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Yesterday ended with an abrupt emotional breakdown that I lacked the ability to control. I’m facing challenges so large in my life right now that I simply don’t know how to navigate through them. I don’t have anyone to lean on either which makes everything that much more difficult.

I’m not sure how to go about finding a roommate that is responsible and dependable. The situation with Jon left me quite shaken up – I’m letting myself be taken advantage of and that needs to stop.

This morning I placed a new ad on Craigslist adding one new stipulation; anyone who wants to move in must pay 50% of the first months rent up front, then the rest on the 1st. This will help to ensure that I’m not getting used by people.

Recently I read Denton Little’s Still Not Dead by Lance Rubin which is the second part to the Denton Little’s Death Date duology. I don’t know why these books aren’t getting more attention, they are hilarious and have this backwards humor that I enjoy a lot.

The story follows Denton Little who lives in a world where the day of your death is known. What makes Denton unique is that he is a ‘young death’ which means that he is dated to die just before completing High School – in fact, he is supposed to die on the night of his prom. This means that the day before his prom Denton gets to have his funeral, and on the day of prom he essentially is waiting to die.

Although the premise sounds bleak, Denton is basically a clumsy idiot who is facing many challenges in his young life – and he faces those challenges… awkwardly. What I learned from this story is that if you put a little effort into the situation you are in, you have the power to change it – for the better. Even things as finite as a death date can be altered – if you take the needed time to learn how to combat it.

This is the lesson that I need to apply to my life right now. I need to make the realization that I WILL get through this current circumstance I’m in. That if I budget carefully I’ll be able to cover all my bills and even have some extra money left over at the end of the month. I must recognize that what I’m facing is difficult I CAN GET THROUGH IT.

There are no certainties in life – but with a little determination, there is a way through ALMOST every obstacle that life tries to throw at you. I have the determination… even if I’m lacking in the optimism department.

I’ll move forward.

American Vagrant

05 Wednesday Apr 2017

Posted by chadwickheller in debt, friend, home, House, job, Life, Money, rain, time, Today, Uncategorized

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This generation is the latest lost generation; drifting around with no real purpose, doing whatever they can to get by – even if it means using people. The recent roommate that I just got  is a prime example of this – due to the circumstances, I will call him his real name; Jon.

I placed an ad on roommates.com three weeks ago seeking a roommate for the room that my [former] best friend left, on March 24 I got an email from a person named Jon asking about the room. We talked a bit and I had him come over to look at the space he’d be renting out, which is what he did on that Friday.

He said he was in urgent need of a place because his girlfriend had kicked him out.

He told me that he is an apprentice electrician and works primarily mornings. I didn’t think much of it on that weekend because I was more relieved that I was able to finally get someone into that room. Over the course of the weekend I asked him what his work schedule looked like, and he told me that he was essentially on call. He said that if he didn’t work Monday, he was almost certain to work the rest of the week.

He didn’t work that Monday, and when I got home from work Tuesday morning (because I work third shift) his truck was in the driveway and I realized that he didn’t work that day either. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were the same thing. He didn’t work one day that entire week. I asked him about it on that Friday and he said that he just didn’t receive any hours and it wasn’t a big deal.

Saturday I ran several errands and kept myself rather busy. Jon’s truck was gone most of the day. Due to my third shift schedule, I went to bed rather early despite having the weekend off. I went to bed at about 5pm and woke up at approximately 3am Sunday morning and went down stairs to get some household chores done. I immediately noticed that the light to the three-season’s room was on and went to see who was out there.

Sitting in my three season’s room is a girl who I had never seen before smoking a cigarette. She didn’t notice me because her back was to the door. I went back to doing my chores thinking I would make an informal greeting with her when she came back into the house.

When she walked past me however, she looked at me then walked right up the stairs and went into Jon’s room. I decided not to make an issue of having this stranger in my home since it was evident that who ever it was, they knew my new roommate.

I figured she was just visiting.

As the day went on however, this girl decided that she would just make herself at home. She was taking shower’s in my bathroom, heating up food in the microwave and walking in and out as she pleased. All while basically ignoring me as if I, the homeowner, wasn’t even there.

I figured she’d be gone by Monday because I assumed that Jon would have to work.

I was wrong on both accounts.

Monday morning when I got home from work, Jon’s truck was in the driveway and the still unknown girl was sitting in my three season’s room once again having a cigarette. I was really getting irritated at this point. I once again refrained from doing anything because it was still unclear to me what was going on.

Tuesday (yesterday) was the final straw however. When I got home from work and saw his truck in my driveway, questions about his employment filled my head. It started to dawn on me that perhaps he wasn’t employed at all, that what he really meant was that him and his girlfriend had been kicked out of the previous place they lived and basically were looking for someone that they could mooch off of for awhile.

In regards to this assumption, I was correct. I called Jon out on this by telling him that the girl (who I STILL didn’t learn the name of) either needed to move out or pay me for staying at my house. I told him that all she is doing is running up my bills and mooching off of me. All he said was, “oh ok”.

While I was asleep yesterday afternoon, him and his girlfriend packed up everything they had and moved out. The room was empty when I woke up at 10pm that evening for work.

In many respects, this is how the millennial generation operates, floating from place to place, job to job hoping that by pure luck they’ll somehow be able to ‘make it’. When things get a little tough, they just move on to the next situation. My [former] best friend was doing this (and continues to do this) and Jon – the guy who I was renting a room to also was doing this.

Jon did give me $20 on his first night here to “cover” for allowing him to move in so fast. Although the gesture was nice, I could only take into consideration that $20 only breaks down to covering only 2 days, not including the utilities he was using.

I’ve learned a few lessons from this experience, the most obvious being that anyone that I rent a room out to needs to pay at least 50% of the first months rent up front. The second is that I need to make a written agreement for any future roommates, and finally I need to make and enforce rules for anyone living here.

Things will get better – I hope.

Getting Gray Hair

31 Friday Mar 2017

Posted by chadwickheller in books, cat, friend, home, House, Life, Money, rain, time, Today, work

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It’s been a week and the new roommate spends a majority of his time in his room, which isn’t a terrible thing I suppose since that’s what I’ve been doing myself for the past three months. I guess I feel that maybe he doesn’t understand that his rent gives him permission to use other parts of the house as well.

So far, I believe, things are going good. Since my [former] best friend left with out a word, I am now apprehensive that the same situation will be repeated with someone else and I really can’t handle that right now. The amount of stress that I was under was too much and was impacting every aspect of my life.

I even discovered a dime-size patch of gray hair.

I’m 32 years old and I already have gray hair due to stress caused by one irresponsible person. How can this be?

I do keep telling myself that with the new roommate, I will not have to be as stressed out all the time because I have the assurance that someone is here to help cover the bills. I want this to be true.

But I’m moving into a future that has a lot of daily uncertainty. This gives me unease. I enjoy stability and having a certain level of control over the events in my life – and so much is out of my hands right now that it is getting difficult to focus.

This weekend I do plan on cleaning and getting significant amount of things done around the house that I”ve been putting off for way too long. I need to find the optimism that I once had and rediscover that desire I had to build for myself a future. This depression that has taken over my life just needs to go. Albeit, it has subsided a bit over the past week – but it’s poison continues to linger.

I do personally wish that my ‘second’ roommate was around a bit so that I could talk to him Just to get things off my mind.

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