Dollars and Sense

I just got back from the World Savings Bank where I bought a CD selling for 5.41% for 8 months. I thought that was pretty cool, considering that other banks were not offering anything near that rate. So, it seemed to me good sense to go ahead and invest in it. Besides, it will mature on April 23, 2008, and that will be William Shakespeare's 443rd birthday. Also happens to be my cousin, Eddie's 85th birthday, I believe. I'll have to check with him... I suppose 85 is one of those "big" birthdays, and if so, I'll have to buy him a present...or at least a Hallmark card; not one of those flimsy 50% off cards with godawful rhyming poems that do not achieve the rank of Poetry. But to the CD...I really need to use good sense in my financial life. (I also have a dining out life, a xword puzzle life, a scrabble life, a blog life, a golfing life, etc). But back to good dollars and sense...The stock market is goofy; down triple digits one day; up triple digits the next. Not that I have a whole bunch of stocks. Actually, I own none. What I do have is an IRA with mutual funds that have stocks...I think. (Phil B. or JR help me out here). Anyway, I'm going to need some money next July when Rhoda and I are celebrating her 70th birthday and our 25th Anniversary. We are going to the Netherlands and cruising around to different cities and countries. Our anniversary will be my second 25th and I believe 2 x 25 = 50. So send gold.

You can see in our picture that Rho is holding a glass of wine and we are on a cruise ship. You can also see that I am smiling, an extremely rare event. I am not a very good smiler; not that I like not to smile...it's just that I never seem to hear or see or touch or smell anything worth smiling about. For example, when we go out to dine with another couple or two, and I forget my hearing aids, I miss all the jokes and the banter; so I just nod my head, like I really heard what was said. Or I just put on a smile, and if what I didn't hear was not a joke, people look at me and wonder why I'm smiling. It could be insulting. You can't win. So, take a good long look at my smile in the picture and try to remember what it looks like next time we socialize.

Oh, I forgot to write about my embarrassing moment today. I went to 3rd Federal Bank to buy the CD and told the clerk I wanted the 5.41 8 month certificate. He said they only had a 5.25 CD. I said that I printed out the application from the internet. He asked to see it, and then he said I was in the wrong bank. The CD was offered by World Bank. There you are. I had dollars but no sense.