RIP Mervyn's

I'm taking a moment now to lament the impending further decline in my shopping happiness. Among the unusual emotional responses I might be able to blame on hormones these days, my sadness over news of the demise of Mervyn's is not one of them. I haven't exactly been their star customer, shopping erratically and minimally over the years, but I will miss their omnipresence in my world.

I loathe shopping for clothes, mostly because I have a tough time finding things that look and feel good on. Mervyn's is one of only a few stores that offered me the rare opportunity to pick and choose among several options that fit (up until pregnancy, as they do not have a maternity wear section. Hmph).

But I've not been in a crowded Mervyn's in many years, and the perpetual storewide sale there and elsewhere has long hinted that times are tough for mid-size retailers. Megastores and online shopping and decline in brand loyalty undoubtedly contributed to Mervyn's filing for bankruptcy protection earlier this year. And now with the economy further in the toilet they've decided to call it quits, liquidating inventory by the end of the year. So RIP Mervyn's. It was nice knowing you.

Come 2009, if you see me dressed in a variety of ill-fitting outfits, feel free to blame it on the economy and not the babyfat. :)

Burning obsessions

Not that you asked, but...

I'm nearing burnout on election coverage. I know, amazing, huh?

Egg Beaters are absurdly expensive.

I'm well past burnout on financial coverage. Yes the stock market has tanked recently and our financial markets are having to regroup en masse, but the world is not ending.

Here's what I remind myself when the whiff of panic emanates from a TV news channel nearby: Stocks are best as a long term investment. Investing is a form of gambling; you can bet wisely, but you can't guarantee winning. You do not have the money associated with your stock portfolio unless/until you cash out the investment; until then it is for all intents and purposes Monopoly money.

I've discovered that Tums are as tasty as any after dinner mint. And they are a good source of calcium. Plus, they help with heartburn. Amazing, huh?

I know how it feels to lose Monopoly money in a hurry due to a series of unlucky rolls of the dice (and a brother who buys up property more aggressively than I do then lords over me when I land on that property). It sucks.

I have this parasite growing inside of me and it moves. Plus it makes me move. Involuntarily. It's a very odd sensation.

Thinking David would take the financial crisis in stride, I felt secure in knowing the world was not coming to an end. I was happy to know I didn't need to panic (when others about me were losing their heads). It's nice to have someone in your life to make you feel that way. Then David started to fret. Grrr.

I miss sleeping comfortably, restfully on my back. Very, very much.

I've never eaten so much red meat in my life as in the past 6 months. I'm actually starting to develop preferences among types of steak. Ack!

I am a big fan of odd sensations. In the past they've tended to be random enough (or not for public disclosure) that I didn't get the chance to obsess over them. At the moment I am almost encouraged to obsess over odd sensations. This can't be good.

I love Mad Men as much as ever.

My left ear has been doing this annoying vibrato thing off and on for at least a month. It does not respond to any normal ear clearing efforts. I would like it to stop.

I've been experimenting with using a traditional, multi-pocket, carry in your hand type purse. This vision of myself hasn't disturbed me yet. I know, amazing, huh?

UPDATE (Nov 3): Staying away from news for a while has allowed my natural love of election day to re-emerge; I am ready for a long election night watching returns and listening to absurd speculation. Mad Men season 2 is over and I miss it, such a well written interesting show. I've taken to carrying a few Tums tablets with me, and of course now I find my heartburn is not so bad. The experiment with traditional purse ended; it's in my bag rotation, but the oversize purse thing just isn't for me on a regular basis. Left ear stopped vibrato-ing, thank goodness. Good news: I've been able to back off on the red meat consumption. Not so good news: instead I have to take a heavy dose of iron each day to ward off anemia. But wow I'm breathing much easier now when I exercise. As always, good with bad.

Bailing for dollars

Are you sick of me sharing my love for the Freakonomics blog? Hopefully not, because they have several interesting, easily digested postings about the defeated Congressional bailout plan (read this first, then this, posted by separate contributors today).

And hopefully you know that David is dearer to me even than the Freakonomics blog. As I've mentioned before, he posted his thoughts on the market mess some time ago. Go ahead, read David's thoughts on the financial crisis, if you haven't already.

All this talk about the rejected bailout bills reminds me to put in a good word for Sunlight Foundation, an organization that encourages government processes be subject to "public input and scrutiny" (sunlight is the best disinfectant, you see). They have created a website--PublicMarkup.org--where proposed legislation is posted and the public can read and comment on it. They'd like to make this the norm, that any proposed bill be open for a period of public scrutiny before it's voted on (kind of like, don't just propose then immediately get married; it rarely works out as you expected in that moment of frenzied emotion). For a fully commented-on example, see the PublicMarkup on Senator Dodd's proposal for buying mortgage assets. Then go contribute your feedback (or read that of others) on the 110-page Senate plan, the Senate Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.