Labors

I slept in a bit today -- worked from home -- and it was good, but I still feel a bit sleepy.  Alas.  In the morning I was fine, but in the afternoon... I really crashed.  Thankfully, several cups of coffee later, I was... somewhat invigorated, if you will.  I even managed -- on my lunch break -- to handle a bit of banking and untangle the switch from 30- to 90-day prescriptions.  One thing I did NOT do today was do some SVDP stuff, and -- also -- clear out some old emails.  At least the new stuff was handled, but the old.  Sigh.

The check for the first installment of the payment for the bathroom renovation was posted, so I took some of the money I had saved up and made a payment to the HELOC.  While so far so good... there was something sad and jarring about seeing a balance -- at these interest rates -- again.  I was listening to one of the economics podcasts today and one of the guys likes to blend personal finance with his commentary.  Today he was discussing that there are some people who are so concerned that they don't take any on, even a HELOC, which is bad -- you use it to improve your house, etc., and you can pay it back -- if you are so concerned, pay it back faster.  I of course was "I resemble this remark!"  To be sure, I am undertaking home repairs, but I am concerned about debt!  But they were correct; if you can manage debt, you can use it.  Indeed, once this bathroom is done... more to do.  

I watched "Matewan" today -- 831 on the National Film Registry.  It's about the labor wars of the 1920s in West Virginia coal country.  Impressive cast -- lots of famous faces, some of whom I even recognized.  The story was quite good; I was feeling somewhat progressive, given the message of the movie.  Truthfully, many workers have been poorly treated throughout our history, the miners especially, but now... I have a sneaking suspicion that in many cases our workers cannot compete with overseas labor, and that is a problem...