All Things Bubba

The mighty Voltron was pretty impressive today, striking out 6 in five innings, and giving up only 3 hits, 1 walk, and no runs. He got in a bit of trouble at the end, on an error by Brandon Phillips and walk, but got out of it.

But just as last year, the pen was a problem. Gary Majewski coughed up three runs, and Brad Salmon coughed up three more. Phillies won, 6-2.

Andy Phillips was subbed in at 1B, but not until the 8th inning. He didn't get any at-bats. However, he has played in every game this spring so far.

The Reds made another cut today. Infielder Adam Rosales, who some thought might be a dark horse to make the roster, was reassigned to minor league camp.

I am busy getting ready for my trip. I'm a little nervous, because I've never driven this far by myself. But I'm also excited. I've been living on the mainland for awhile now, but there's a part of me that is still amazed that you can actually drive to another state. (In Hawai`i, you can't even drive to another county!) And there's so much I want to see and do in Sarasota that a week probably isn't enough.

I didn't realize that Easter is next weekend already. Hopefully I'm traveling early enough that there won't be a lot of holiday traffic.

And of course, with my luck, I'm going on this road trip when gas prices are at record highs. Maybe Kunstler is right, and we're facing the end of the "happy motoring" lifestyle.

What's going on right now in the financial world is just crazy. The federal reserve just announced an emergency rate cut. (Yup, on a Sunday night!)

Most ordinary people haven't really noticed the global credit crisis. They may have noticed that it's harder to get a mortgage, or that their credit card limit has been lowered. But on Wall St., people are worried. If you talk to people who are in the financial field...they've never seen anything like what's going on now. They're not really sure what to do. And while most think everything's going to be okay, there is some fear that things could get really bad, really fast. Like, massive bank failures, to the point that the FDIC can't cover all the losses. Some even fear we might be headed into another Great Depression - maybe worse than the Great Depression.

(Dear Bubba: I know you got a nice signing bonus ten years ago. I hope you invested it, instead blowing it all on fast cars and fast women. You're young, and your broker has probably encouraged you to invest aggressively. Given the storm on the financial horizon, a more conservative and diversified portfolio might be a good idea. Cash, bonds, commodities, TIPs, etc. Real estate is probably not a great idea right now.)

Of course, I might be a little paranoid, since my bank went belly up last fall due to the mortgage crisis.

Yeah, I know. Given the turmoil on Wall St. and $110/barrel oil, I should probably save my money rather than blowing it on a vacation. But I guess I want to party while I can. If gas ends up $10 or $20 a gallon, I'll be glad I took this road trip while I could.

I hope.

Labels: The Greater Depression