Thursday, February 28, 2008

Buying Euros . . . .

So basically when oil trades at 100 bucks a barrel the dollar drops and the euro rises. At least that is my pathetic understanding of it. So the question is, will this trend continue?

(The question is, who cares? )

Answer is that I do. I wish I knew more about money and finances and intrest rates and the federal reserve, oil prices, OPEC, and the whole rotten lot of it because if the dollar is only going to continue to drop this year than I sure as heck better transfer all the money I intend to spend in euros now and save myself some money. RRRRrrrrrrr. finances. . . .


On a lighter note Julia has gone to bed at nine tonight and since for the first time in many weeks my hands are free I am blogging again. Huzzah. I have been packing up our apartment and getting so exited for Gravagna. Exited for walks to the cemetary, walks to the campo, walks to San Rocco, to Marietta, to the waterfall and to all the dear dear familiar places. I can't wait to sit in Cafe Bellotti on a rainy market day and sip a hot chocolate or cafe-late. It will probably be really cold for our first month there but that's okay. I'll have Julia snug as a bug in her little sling,. THe Wingates are coming to Gravangna for the month of August and Henry and Ben will paint landscapes while Mary and I sunbathe and the children frolic in the fields. Well that's my fantasy of it anyway . . .its easy to get carried away especially when you think of summertime in February.

Ben and I have been watching the BBC series "Foyles' War" in the evenings and they are so good that I want to ration them out to myself so I can savour and relish each one. They are without a doubt the BEST murder mystery series I have ever watched and I am absolutley in love with Michael Kitchen. Ben and I agreee too without a doubt that Samantha the driver, played by Honeysuckle Weeks is simply the cutest little British girl ever and we wish she was our friend. And I LOVE THAT NAME! Why didn't my parents name ME "Honeysuckle Weeks"? Oh and here they are together, the sweeties.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Foyle's War" is one of the best series in years. I'm disappointed that they're ending it, but the last three episodes air this summer on PBS. It takes them to V-E Day,

Annie Hatke Schap said...

Jill keeps talking about it on her blog too, but I've never heard of it! Also, I am going to find Martin RIGHT NOW and ask him if our next daughter can be named Honeysuckle. And if he says No, I just won't listen.

Anonymous said...

Anna, I think that one reason your parents didn't name you "Honeysuckle Weeks" is that your surname is "Bertolini" (not, "Weeks").

I'm afraid that "Honeysuckle Bertolini" just doesn't have the same sort of ring.

Dude, I'm really sorry.

Anonymous said...

I want to publicly and vey loudly claim all credit for putting you onto this fabuloso series. Isn't it the bee's rollerskates??!!? I told you it was the best! I love when I'm right. I mean, I usually am... and always so modest about it!! I can't wait for the series finale this summer. I'm such a dork about it that I signed up to have Masterpeice Theatre e-mail me when they'll be broadcasting. Then, I just have to track down someone who has cable to tape them for me...

As far as Honeysuckle goes- I think it would work well with Hatke (and Martin... let's see who can get preggo and use it first!) With a name like Schnerre it's hard to find something that isn't too much of a mouthful. I just think "Honeysuckle Schnerre" would be a bit much for a wee one.

Finally, I love that Ben calls you dude. I wish Bob would call me dude. He only calls me boring things like sweetcakes and dewdrop.

Yours,
M.

Anonymous said...

I left out an "r" in very. Soree, I usualy spel much beter then that.

M.

Anonymous said...

Ha. Ha. Ha. And I spelled Masterpiece wrong. Am I an idiot or what?

M.

Anonymous said...

Yay for Foyle's War!! I almost took a pilgrimage to Hastings when I was in England last month, but I was warned that it might ruin my romantic notions. I guess Foyle, Milner, and Sam aren't really wandering the streets. Phoo.

Anonymous said...

Honeysuckle Weeks....really cute. But, I am sorry.....Honeysuckle Hatke is just to much. Do you really want your child stoned to death??
PS I am REALLY enjoying the series. Thank you's to Anna and Ben and Mary. Mary: Honeysuckle Schnerre is a no go.
Mama to some...Mrs. H. to others

Anonymous said...

Anna,

I was wrong. The library does have all of them. (At least all save the three that will be on PBS this summer.) They didn't have them when we were watching and I got them through Netflix. Anyway, good luck squeezing them in before Gravagna calls you away.

Talk to you soon,
M.

P.s. Mrs. H., I think Honeysuckle Hatke is just fine. In fact, I think they should name #4 Honeysuckle Helena Hatke. We could call her H-cube for short. Wait, maybe you're right. I guess Annie and Martin have first dibs.

P.p.s. In my original mistake-laden comment I seemed to think that Annie's last name was Martin. I blame it on sleep deprivation- the children were up throwing up most of the night. But, anyway, I think Honeysuckle Schap would work too. Did I spell Schap right? Sigh.

drewann said...

Foyle's War is wonderful. Try the BBC mini series "Wives & Daughters" as well. You will recognize Anthony Howell in it as Roger.

Steak said...

RE, buying Euros. The head of the International Monetary Fund thinks the Euro is overvalued:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d0ce1520-e918-11dc-8365-0000779fd2ac.html

Key Quote: "We are seeing great distortions between currencies. The yuan and the yen are undervalued, the euro is overvalued and the dollar is between the two." (If the dollar is "between" being "undervalued" and "overvalued," doesn't that mean it is just regular valued?)

However, it doesn't really matter for the short term whether the Euro is overvalued or not. All that matters is the public perception. So long as people THINK that it's better to have Euros than to have dollars, Euros will stay expensive and dollars will stay cheap.

If you think that people's estimation of the Euro will stay high and not change before your trip, you might as well go with that instinct. Whatever you do, it's going to be a gamble. You can study money markets until your face turns blue; it is still impossible to predict what they are going to do.

Anna said...

thanks Steak!

anna

Anonymous said...

Right on, steak - which is why we should return to the gold standard. A couple interesting facts:

1 - An ounce of gold buys just as much gasoline at the pump today as it did in 1980. In fact, the prices of oil, gold and corn have remained relatively unchanged for a very long time. The dollar, on the other hand, is worth slightly more than $0.02 of its value in 1930. In other words: the dollar is collapsing. So will the euro, but it will take longer.

2 - Not directly related, but interesting dots to connect: From 1976 to 2002, oil could only be purchased on the world market with dollars. All other countries had to convert their currency to dollars in order to purchase oil from an OPEC country. In early 2002, Iraq became the first OPEC nation to refuse dollars and accept euros instead. Since then, Iran, Syria and Venezuela have taken steps in the same direction.

Two questions: What happened in late 2002? And who are we throwing political rocks at now?

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