Good days

Oh, I know, the stock market has dropped closet to a zillion points, the incompetent president is matched step for step with the greedy and insane congress and the Gulf of Mexico now produces pre-oiled shrimp for your cooking pleasure, and you ask yourself, can life get any better that this?

Why, yes, yes it can.

I was talking just yesterday to an old dear friend who said this to me. "You need to get a bottle of Jack Daniels, rent a decent hotel room, have a couple of drinks, do whatever makes you happy, and celebrate."

First off, this is why having long time friends is important, because they offering advice that is both perfect and semi-retarded. Although, to be honest, I decided that last night deserved some sort of celebration, so I stopped at a diner frequented by truckers and had a steak. I know, as you get older, celebrations are not what they used to be.

A couple of observations from New York City. While there is not panic in the streets, there are certainly a lot fewer tourists. There was a time when you would do a gallery crawl and all you would hear is languages that you would not understand. It was a joyous time, tanned people, in exotic summer wear, talking passionately about art and food with sexy words that were completely foreign.

Yesterday, during my latest crawl through some of the cities finer galleries, or at least the ones that remain open, I mostly walked with college students and unemployed financial industry clerks and paper pushers.

It is a strange time, across from one of my favorite galleries is a new Tesla shop, where these beautiful electric race cars are shown off for all the world to gawk at. While I was gawking, this beautiful young woman steps out of the showroom, opens the door to a low slung Tesla and steps in and without a sound, sped off. Now, I am not the type who needs the sound of a powerful engine to make me understand that a car is zooming away, but the peace and quiet the Tesla leaves the scene with is both inspiring and disquieting, all at the same time.

Say whatever you will about our ailing economy, the Apple Store on 14th was packed and people were buying. Of course, there was a large man shaving and brushing his teeth in the third floor restroom, which was a little shocking, but because Apple employees all weigh in about 100 pounds and are incredibly polite, no one said a word. Nice.

There was other good news, but I ended up driving home last night to celebrate with my babies. I will get around to it, but right now I have work to do. That may be the liet motif of what will bring the American economy back from the abyss. See the key is not to wait for the empty headed morons in Washington DC to do something dramatic or pragmatic, they hardly ever do. No, the important thing is for the people of this country to continue to create, to find new business ideas, to reach out to others and develop all sorts of ways to move forward. The people we elect to congress are at best failed middle managers, so the best we can expect from them is to stay out of the way. These are not leaders, they are clowns in cheap suits. If you want to make this country a better place, it would be wise to forget we even have a federal government and get moving on your own.