Diablevert

My, but I've been busy.

Work has developed a terrible habit of requiring my attention --- I know! --- just when I had my heart set upon using my daylight hours to knock Nos. 567-784 off my List of 1,001 Things You Absolutely Must Do Before Leaving the Country, No, But for REALS, Yo, Take Care of This Stuff or You Can't Get on the Plane, Jackass. (alternate title: 1,001 T.Y.A.M.D.B.L.C.N.B.F.R.Y.T.C.T.S.O.Y.C.G.P.J., currently 1,987,453,867,233 on the Amazon.com bestseller list). So I haven't been posting as much. I'll work on it.

Meanwhile, here are two completely random thingies:

Random Thingy Number One:

A thought on the useless pile of crap I've been desultorily sorting through this morning, muttering bitterly all the while:

I'm not sure what a "comfort letter" is in the context of insurance, but it sounds truly filthy. Like some kind of corporate-speak for getting a "happy ending" with your massage.

Random Thingy Number Two:

An Anecdote:
I was googling around last night to find out whether or not y'all have realtor fees in Ireland ---- it seems you do, 6 to 10%. Except they're paid by the landlord. Which comforts me, since I read a lot about y'all bitching about the housing market, and after looking at daft.ie and whatnot I was thinking, jeeze, maybe it's as bad as New York. But then, see, in New York the realtor typically gets from 8 to 15% of year's rent as their fee --- from the renter. This is on top of any other management fees, security deposits, first and sometimes last month's rent. So I felt better. This is one of the beauties of living in New York; traveling practically anywhere else, you're always stunned at how cheap things are.

In the course of my wanderings, I found an article from the landlord's perspective on the site of the Irish Post, which led me to this op-ed, a mildly interesting piece whose sexy lead-in promises a foreign policy screed and then goes on to speak largely of the dismal science, but, on the bright side, has some warmly apocalyptic predictions about the future if the U.S. economy keeps steady on its present course.

And then I got the byline at the end of the column, and it says, "David Mc Williams presents the Breakfast Show on Newstalk 106."

Wuh?

You have an economist to host your morning show? Your version of Matt Lauer has a B.A. from Trinity and M.A. from Brussels? (Our version is four credits shy of a Communications degree from Ohio U., apparently.) My respect for and incomprehension of you just increased, Ireland.