Present

This is a present Karen gave me. You can see it has magic.

Something I forgot to note yesterday but that I think is terribly important and terribly easy to forget - we did not go into a recession. The media and big business this year were predicting recession so hard it was like they were cheerleading for it, trying to make it happen. Big businesses began laying people off because of this supposed recession. 

It did not happen. The Biden administration did wise things and this recession, that we were absolutely, positively going to have, did not occur. As one of the major world economies, if we had a recession the likes that was predicted, everyone else would have too. It seems to me that everyone is forgetting the catastrophe that did not happen. Yes, we had inflation, but we did not have massive unemployment, and as someone who has been in too many recessions and lost her job in too many recessions I would much rather have really high employment and a period of inflation. Yes, eggs cost $8 each but we kept our jobs and our health insurance. 

And I bet kids don’t throw eggs as part of vandalism right now. 

I got done almost everything I planned. We had a great conversation with Canadian relatives. I finished vacuuming the house. I finished editing all the pictures I want in the survey. I finished the survey. I sent the kids’ pictures separately to trusted people. It is so fascinating to learn which pictures people prefer and why. The only thing on my list that I didn’t do was take down the tree and Karen said she’d kinda rather I leave it up a little bit longer. 

The International Olympic Committee confirmed most Russian athletes will be barred and only screened individual competitors who have shown no public support for the war will be allowed. 
China has restored import levies on coal, a move that could threaten Russian exporters as they are now so dependent on that market. China has been mining in record amounts and now there is a glut. 
St. Petersburg canceled New Year's Eve celebrations on short notice after Ukraine attacked a different city. 
Russian state media said Ukraine attacked a downtown Donetsk hotel where elite Russians were trying to party. I think after the fiasco of the Nearly Naked party Russians should stop trying to have fun, at least until Putin is gone.