I swear I am checking the company e-mail and am totally focused on business matters. I took advantage of that laser-like focus when my eyes popped open at one-thirty and could not get back to sleep.

I listened to CBC 1 channel out of Edmonton on the iPad in bed, hoping something decent would happen. No joy on that, and I decided to clear off the email queue before trying to bludgeon my conscious mind back to dreamland.

Oil change for the Panzer, I thought. The guys at the Mercedes dealership should be back at work, even if the rest of us are simulating it. The lists started to float through my mind- the “things to do” that I never have time to get to during the normal times.

That eventually led to a mental dialogue about taxes for the estate, and the Socotra LLC that has not made a dime in three years. Then on to the taxes that are going to start next week. No one seems to have a clue about that, but I am sure it is going to be just fine even if the timekeepers have no idea what to take out of the first check of the new year.

How big a hit is it going to be? Rude awakening, I am sure. Then lI thought about current tax liabilities for Fiscal 2012, and the load to take to Good Will for the charitable donation that could go away. That and the mortgage interest deduction that normally results in the IRS sending me back a modest bit of the money they took. Crap.

That made my eyes wide, and then I considered the fact that the windows all have to be cracked open since the little men are going to paint the frames on Friday and management does not want the windows to stick. Not this morning, I thought, but it means for sure the little men are going to be back on the balcony and peering, Ninja-Like, into my windows.

Between the Ninjas, taxes, budget cliffs and Good Will, I gave up and wandered out to the dining room and turned on the computer. Secretary Panetta was waiting in my queue when I got to it. My pal John in Law Enforcement sent out a .pdf copy of the cheery note to his Department explaining what was going to happen when we leap off the cliff on January 2nd.

I have heard he was going to retire, and that may account for his generally cheery attitude. “A lot of you have been asking questions about a large reduction to our budget authority and how you are supposed to deal with it.” I know I am one of many, though I don’t have the Secretary’s email address to send him a note. I was relieved to discover his policy. He explained that everyone is going to get paid, and pay no attention to the $500 Billion bill that may have to be paid out of the current accounts ledger. “It doesn’t really have to be paid until September,” he wrote with an upbeat twist. “We will figure something out.”

He was going to quit the job anyway, so I suppose it is easy to be sanguine about it.

Anyway, I finished the half-cocktail that was sitting by my brown chair and yawned. I wondered if sleep might be possible, and remarkably, it was. When I woke again it was broad daylight and the sound of grinders filled the air. There were men at work out there.

This is what the process looks like from the balcony- moving closer…

This is what it looks like when it happens to you…

I am not supposed to go out there but I did…

Some minor structural damage. revealed…hope they patch it…

It is an amazing process to keep a 1964 building in order, just like it is watching people tinker with the 236-year-old democracy. Nice to watch men at work.

Downright inspirational. I wonder if someone downtown could get with the same program?

Copyright 2012 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocota.com