Step right up ladies and gentlemen...boys and girls...welcome to the Carnivale! We really do live in a crazy mixed up world. We were talking this morning about the idiot woman who callled 9-1-1 THREE times from the drive up window at a McDonald's because they were out of McNuggets and she did not want a substitute meal. We are such an incredibly conditioned society to instant gratification that we literally can't operate with any kind of delay whatsoever. That's why we wanted bigger, fancier cars and houses before we could actually afford them. That's why we can't wait around for the silly notion of buying and holding stock certificates for the long haul, and want to make a killing in the market this week, not this decade. We can point the finger of blame at a whole lot of folks who screwed up the system beyond recognition...but every time we point it at someone else there are four other fingers pointing right back at ourselves. Sooner or later we're all going to have to give in to the fact that it's going to take a while for anything close to "normal" returning to our doorsteps. We might as well own up to it...sit down and do a little planning for the future, and then get to work on settling in for the long haul. If we don't, the carnival barker is simply going to continue to take our cash and leave us with little more than trinkets and trash in return. Buy something long term today and then forget about it for a while. You might be pleasantly surprised what can happen when you're not standing in line continually waiting for your turn to ride the fancy pony. Good luck!