Happy 3rd day of the official recession

I want to be a New York Times economist too.  One of the ones who get paid a lot of money and get quoted a year after the fact about how we are officially in a recession.  Me?  I would have called it a bit earlier.  But I've got to say, I've been a bit giddy since reading the 'Official' news in Monday's paper. It's like 'ahhhhhhh, yes, it's not just me.'  Now laid off lawyers and stock brokers are going to the 99 cent store to figure out how to decorate for their not-so-elaborate Christmas parties this year and substitute Betty Crocker spongecake and Pillsbury icing for the 40 buck chocolate mousse from their favorite chi-chi gourmet bake shop.  I actually feel relief, like, finally, someone has called the elephant in the room an elephant, you know?  Hey, everyone, there's an elephant in the room...it's not just mousey droppings you've been finding in the morning.  It's a full-grown, goshdarned elephant who has been crapping on your faux suede sofa.

"Hello, happy second day of the recession," I said to the plumber who came to fix our 85-year-old broken pipe yesterday. 
He smiled and waved as he reached into a brand new hole in the wall to grab a piece of our plumbing that resembled metal swiss cheese.  He smiled as I made out a check for half our mortgage and, the weird thing is, I smiled back.  Hey, it's official, we're all in this together.  Now I just have to figure out where to find the other half of our mortgage.  I'm also thinking that a career change to plumbing sounds like a good idea right about now.

Happy days.  Peace.