Shorted Out

The highlight of my day yesterday, outside of the opening of spring training, were two FaceTime calls from three of the most important ladies in my life. The first was from California where the First Blog Reader and the Cali-Daughter called to update on their first week back from Panama. My heart underwent the melting process when my granddaughter obviously recognized either my face or voice and broke into a huge smile. I don’t think I’ve stopped the return smiling yet. She had her latest doctor’s appointment this week where she received her usual high marks for her obvious perfection. She handled her latest round of vaccinations with her usual aplomb.

Getting her Band Aides On After Vaccinations

Late last night my Favorite Panamanian called to report the conclusion of her epic thunder run through neighboring Costa Rica. I got the complete (and exhausting) rundown of all their adventures as the PanaGals littered their path with broken hearts and empty shopping venues. She reported an evening in a San Jose club where a frisky Costa Rican took an interest in her and cornered her coming out of the bathroom. He said she was very attractive and wanted to know her availability. She told him she was married to a trained killer and ran for safety of the PanaGal table. I think she was sneakily a little proud that she could still pull that kind of attention. I told her I wasn’t’ surprised in the least and have always told her she was a lot hotter than she imagined. These are the kind of statements that keep me in her good graces from afar. She sent me a bunch of pictures, including some beach photos of her in a leopard bathing suit I was expressly forbidden from sharing with you. I'll leave that to your imagination, which is hopefully cleaner than mine.

PanaGal Pool Time

The Bungalow They Rented on the Costa Sur

From the Outside

The beach

My Favorite Panamanian in Costa Rica (and Everywhere Else)

The Traveling Group

Glad I Missed This Meal

I Know She'd Try to get me to Eat It

I completed my week long run through the movies by seeing The Big Short. Somehow the director has made an entertaining movie out of the housing/banking crisis of 2007/2008. This was an actors’ film throughout as the story is told through the investors who saw the impending crisis before the people who should have, namely the SEC, the banks, and every other governmental agency. While Christian Bale is getting the most plaudits, Steve Carrell dominates as the emotional heart of the movie. This is really a comedy as the actor’s break the Fourth Wall repeatedly to explain what is going on. When aspects of the crisis wander into highly technical financial areas the filmmakers cut to small skits to explain. Margot Robbie in a bubble bath and Selena Gomez at the crap table are but two of several memorable skits which really helped.

The film had a hard time bringing the story in during the final scenes. After a movie long buildup its really unclear what actually happened with some of the major story lines. That’s part of the point though, nothing really changed, despite the worldwide economic meltdown. It is painfully clear just how fraudulent the major banking institutions were and how complicit in that fraud both the Bush and Obama administrations were and how little has changed in the aftermath. If I was Bernie Sanders I’d try to get as many people as possible to watch this movie as it is impossible to leave without deep seated anger at the failure of our government.

Loves to Read

And Hang With Mom

Great Feet

Mastering the Turnover

Okay - She Might Cry Occasionally

But Usually Just Looks Straight into your Soul