My 401k is being controlled by monkeys

I was reading today that the recent economic downturn has resulted in 401k plans around the country losing in the neighborhood of 2 Trillion dollars this week alone. What this means obviously is that some folks will have to work a couple more years in order to make up for the losses. My 401k is down 38% as of today, and I have a feeling our economy is not going to make any significant return to the positive until at least 3rd Quarter 2009. All of this got me thinking that a lot of people are confused about why they are losing so much money. It must be because we are investing in monkeys as the following story suggests.

Once upon a time, in a village, a man appeared and announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for $10 each.The villagers seeing that there were many monkeys around, went out to the forest, and started catching them. The man bought thousands at $10 and as supply started to diminish, the villagers stopped their effort.He further announced that he would now buy at $20. This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching monkeys again.Soon the supply diminished even further and people started going back to their farms. The offer increased to $25 each and the supply of monkeys became so little that it was an effort to even see a monkey, let alone catch it!The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at $50! However, since he had to go to the city on some business, his assistant would now buy on behalf of him. In the absence of the man, the assistant told the villagers. "Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that the man has collected. I will sell them to you at $35 and when the man returns from the city, you can sell them to him for $50 each." The villagers collected all of their life savings and bought all the monkeys from the assistant. Then the assistant left town and the villagers never saw him or the man ever again.

In the Halloween Spirit!

EXHAUSTED...........

We have had one exhausting week around the Schell household......Ali seems to think she can't sleep anywhere. It is getting really bad. She won't sleep in her crib, our bed, only face planted on Mommy's face. We are trying to keep her in the crib, but at 2 o'clock in the morning when you are so exhausted you bring her into bed instead of laying in bed listening to her cry from the next room. It has become this vicious cycle. At least she sings a great tune to us in the morning you can't help but look at her and smile with utter exhaustion. Besides sleeping....I am positive in my mind she said her first word, Dada. Of course I am so excited, but I tried really hard for the last 8 1/2 months to get her to say, Mommy! We went to visit Tim at work and Ali was in the stroller. She heard her Daddy talking to a client and was looking all around. I took her out so she could see him and she looked right over at him and yelled, Dada, Dada. No one besides me believes me. Last night it was her bed time and she was talking up a storm and playing at her table when she let go. Her belly was holding her up, but then this morning she did it again, very carefully, for 5 seconds. I counted without making a seen b/c I didn't want her to fall. When she did she looked up and smiled at me. She was so proud of herself. Ali is no longer scared of the big scary vacuum. She followed me around in amazement this morning trying to turn it on and off.

Griz vs. UW!

Hmmmmmm, which side should I choose? That is an easy choice, GRIZ!!!

Her first Picasso.

What an abstract artist! Great use of brown and orange hues on a white carpet canvas!