Missy’s Blog

Today is the last day of George W. Bush’s presidency.  Tomorrow he will join the growing number of Americans on the unemployment line.   And as much as I like a majority of the country am excited for the new era in America to start, I still fill so bad for the guy.   How he must feel to be so hated and blamed and see all these parties that are partially celerbrating your leaving.    I guess all I can say is I hope he enjoys his retirement.

One month ago today I was on a plane to Germany .  My first time in Europe.  It was quick trip of one week but was so much fun and I cannot wait to go back.  Here are some pictures of Germany from my Brother in Law’s blog.   So, I will not go into huge detail about the trip but here are the top things that will stay with me the most.

The peace.   Maybe it was that we went during Christmas so many stores were closed and people were home, but there was just this quite slow calmness to it all.  People whether it was shopping, driving, or just being, just seem not to be in such a hurry to get there or have it now.

The public bathrooms.  Yes I loved the public bathrooms as weird as that sounds!  They were cleaner and you did not feel as “public” in them.  There are full walls instead of the thin piece of plastic between stahls.   When we got back to SFO I just want to cry from the gross public bathroom.

And the food was fantastic.

I want to thank Matthias’s family for being so wonderful and making my first time in Europe so amazing.  Thank you for wlecoming me into your home and being so great.  I cannot thank you enough!

Stealing this entry from my sister Sept 15 entry, who was inspired by her cohort member Tira Young’s blog entry of Sept. 4, 08”. Good things get passed around like hugs and drugs.

I AM … my own worst enemy, critic, counsel….

I WANT… to live with purpose and drive.

I HAVE … nothing to complain about but it seems to come so naturally to me.

I KEEP…thinking I have all the time in the world.

I WISH I COULD …. be truly adventure and courageous like Ann Curry

I HATE … when I feel dumb.

I FEAR …. Judgment.

I HEAR … the constant hum of my daily life.

I DON’T THINK …Obama well solve all the world’s or country’s problems but it is definitely a great start and a great inspiration.

I REGRET …how much time I waste

I LOVE …. laughter I AM NOT … ready

I DANCE … in the bathroom

I SING … randomly and in my head perfectly.

I NEVER …seem to draw anymore.

I RARELY …do things that are good for me.

I CRY WHEN I WATCH …everything. I AM NOT ALWAYS … confident

I HATE THAT … I cannot remember what I did yesterday or last week or last month…

I’M CONFUSED ABOUT … what Treasury does with the 28 and 947 reports during reconciliations and why it matters that I know.

I NEED … be more open to love/friendship and talk to my friends more.

I SHOULD… not wait

I attended an Ethics for CPAs class last week.  The class focused on the philosophies behind ethics, such as Kantian- the good of the individual before the community versus Utilitarianism- the good for the most people, etc, instead of the rules or checklist that CPAs must follow to comply with our professions ethics.   This change of focus was in its self very interesting but what has stuck with me is something the instructor brought up.  The room was full of tax accountants.  By survey of the room, the majority of these tax accountants believed that the current National Income Tax system was very messed up and both the citizens and the country would do much better with a flat tax system.  But it was also concluded that these tax accountants would not support or lobby for the change of the tax system even though it was their belief it would bring the most benefit to the most people mainly.  They could/would not do this because it would have negative effect on their job.  Is that ethical?

Apparently it is World Philosophy Day and an article I read, which discussed the role of philosophers in modern day, gave the following example that I have to share.

Suppose Bill is a healthy man without family or loved ones. Would it be ok to painlessly kill him if his organs would save five people, one of whom needs a heart, another a kidney, and so on? If not, why not?

Consider another case: you and six others are kidnapped, and the kidnapper somehow persuades you that if you shoot dead one of the other hostages, he will    set the remaining five free, whereas if you do not, he will shoot all six. (Either way, he’ll release you.)

If in this case you should kill one to save five, why not in the previous, organs case? If in this case too you have qualms, consider yet another: you’re in the cab of a runaway tram and see five people tied to the track ahead. You have the option of sending the tram on to the track forking off to the left, on which only one      person is tied. Surely you should send the tram left, killing one to save five.

But then why not kill Bill?

I know that so many are upset by Prop 8 passing I decided to add my disappointment to the pool.  I really did not even believe that this measure could ever pass in California, but it did.  I still think maybe like 200,000 people were mistaken in what it did and thought a yes vote on Prop 8 was a yes for the legalization of gay marriage.  All I say is that I am so sorry to all my friends and that I think the community just needs some more time.  I have to admit that when the California Supreme Court legalized it back in June I was unsure that it was right.   That did not last long though.  I heard that two of my old friends in SLO got married under the new rules and I was so truly happy for them.  These two wonderful women had been together for so many years and are just so great together. How can their and so many other peoples’ love and happiness be wrong.

There has been alot going in the world lately; politics, economy, etc; that I have had my opinion on but really who wants to read my view points which are just rehashing of articles I have read.  So I have remained relatively quietly lately.  But now I have have something that needs to be said and heard.  My old supervisor in San Luis Obispo died suddenly last week at the age of 61.   He was a great guy and I will always remember his laugh.  I emailed him the week before and this is the last advice/wisdom I will ever receive from him.

Let me tell you about my friend Mary.  She recently told me about her father passing away and how she prayed by his bed for multiple days and nights.   She totally made me cry not because of the sadness of losing her father but from her appreciation and joy in being there when he died.  She told me that she knew that her father had made it to heaven and that she was so appreciative that she could be part of his journey.  Mary is the most genuine and generous person I know.   She has a beautiful spirit and lucky for us she is willing to share it.  Anytime I find myself wishing for this or that to be over or wishing I could be doing something else, I think about Mary and how truly appreciative she is for every moment in her life.  I hope we could all be that appreciative for not just the big things in our life but the small things too.  It is all good and amazing.

One thing that I thought would happen when I moved was that I would stop getting all that junk mail and catalogs I got in San Luis.  Nope.  They found me! There is no escape from those unknown charity organizations or the catalogs that I ordered one thing from three years ago.  Can I ever get away?

I do not mean to boast but I am having the best week ever!!  To start the week I got to see my Mom and Dad and get some sun by the pool.  I won this dispute I have been having with a landlord that I had to take all the way to court.  I got a good review on my first audit back.  And among other great things, I passed a CPA test!  Yeah, Best week ever!!!