Spiking the football

So, one of the themes at the Monday meeting was that our operations manager at the food pantry wanted more money in the budget for food, due to the general cost of things and the lack of items on the ordering menu.  Anyways, this month I am in charge of the ordering, and I have a system AND a budget.  Hence, when doing the ordering, I was paying close attention to staying under budget.  Some items were deep-sixed due to their cost and weight (we pay for shipping).  Some stuff I ordered even though it killed me to do it.  I ordered as many free items as I could (mainly produce and beans) but then of course I also watched weight.  I pretty much ordered all of the items we truly needed -- including meat -- and I ended up being $35 under budget for this ordering period.  Was it a challenge?  Yes.  Could it be done?  Yes.  I sent a spike-the-football email out (probably should not have) but... I mean, I have no problem spending more once in a while if we need to, and not for shits and giggles.

Work has been a bit long; bit busy, lots of stuff on the agenda, and there is only one of me to do it.  On the other hand, we are doing new and fun things, and I think they will be received well, and it is foundational for further newer things.  Or, I hope it will be!

JD Vance’s Tour in Iraq Taught Him His Government Lies - POLITICO
Interesting read, and honestly, given what he saw and experienced... yes, I can see how he came to his views.  Nor is he wrong... we do not have the money nor the blood to shed on unnecessary ventures... I guess I do still support the Iraq War -- getting rid of Hussein was a good thing -- but the end result was... not done well.  Trump -- bombing nuclear reactors notwithstanding -- seems to understand that.

Scams And Bribery Are Becoming the Foundation of Our Economy
Is it?  I mean, I come back to my original answer -- we let people gamble and buy lottery tickets, and that is a scam that is a throwaway of cash, so why don't we let people gamble in crypto, especially if we tell people this and let them make a "rational" decision to do it?  Much like the joke about the man who wanted to put his manpart in the pickle slicer...sometimes you have to let them do it.