Seventeen years ago today I was standing in a reception line at my own wedding with a shocker in my hand, buzzing all my friends (and some of my parents’ friends) who had come to see if my then fiancé was brave enough to really go through with it.  Joke’s on them because we indeed tied the knot and kept all their wedding presents.  My wife is the highlight of my life and I love her dearly.  Happy anniversary, sweetheart!

Speaking of long lines and shocking buttons, late last year the federal government pushed the snooze button on a budget agreement needed to avoid a shutdown.  Well, the alarm is going off again today, and Congress has until midnight tonight to get 51% of 535 elected officials’ to agree on a prudent course of action.  I sure hope they figure it out because Amazon uses the Postal Service to deliver happiness to our porch every other day, and I wouldn’t know what to do with myself without a stack of junk mail to rifle through after dinner every night.

So barring any semi-permanent government closure that goes beyond annoyance to send shockwaves of fear through the entirety of the U.S. economy, it looks like interest rates will track upward about a half of a percent by the end of the year.  Note to self: buy another hand buzzer on Amazon.