Hanna...meet Oprah's Mama

Apologies to all of our loyal readers! We’ve been slow in coming back since the Labor Day holiday. The good news…nothing major has happened in the world except for a few annoying weather systems that are coming straight for us! Yikes! Yes it looks like Hanna will be making her appearance on the Outer Banks as soon as Saturday morning. At present she’s a Cat 1 which is about the equivalent of our typical Nor’ Easters. Of course the media will play it up with photos of random Outer Bankers fighting over ply wood and nails at the Home Depot! In fact, I saw Channel 13 at the Avalon Pier just last night. They were begging me for an interview but I told them they had to go through my publicist. That’s Emily by the way. So far no calls. My father in-law works for Noaa so I feel like I could be a good source of information on the upcoming storm. My take…I’ll finally get a nice rainy Saturday to be lazy and do exactly nothing. Works for me.

In other news, the markets are down this morning. Jobless claims rose (up 15,000) for the first time in three weeks. Currently the number of unemployed workers stands at 444,000. That’s up from the same time last year when 320,000 workers were without jobs. Analysts aren’t sure what caused the jump. Um…ok. I know I’m not officially “anyone” but it was just Labor Day and I would imagine that a lot of seasonal workers lost their jobs or went back to their home countries. Just an educated guess. Following that story, the private sector cut 33,000 jobs in August. Hardest hit were the construction and manufacturing sectors. The Service Sector on the other hand is reporting a growth spurt from 49.2% to 50.6 in July. Anything over 50 signals growth. Well that’s some good news!

Economists were expecting better “Back to School” numbers in the way of Retail Sales. The only retailer showing positive growth was Wal-Mart. Good ole Wally World! People buy where they can afford to buy. Does this shock anyone? Toll Brothers reported a Q3 loss but said they feel that the economy is stabilizing. Q3 saw their biggest decrease in clients cancelling their home building contracts in two years. They also noted that they are seeing an increase in the amount of deposit monies being given when contracts are written. Right….that’s the way the system should work. People who can’t afford homes shouldn’t buy them. People who can put down money shouldn’t buy them. It’s back to the old school way of doing business. Toll Bros also indicated that they feel the market will come back in full swing when the foreclosure market has been depleted. Agreed.

I’m skipping the RNC because I don’t feel we should get caught up in political rhetoric. Translation….I’m not into smoke and mirrors on either side. So it’s on to Hollywood where smoke and mirrors rule the world! David Spade may be a Baby Daddy! Seems he had “relations” with a Playboy model and…pop…out came a baby! No word yet on the paternity test. Mackenzie Phillips was arrested last week for cocaine and heroin possession. You’ll remember her from “One Day at a Time.” Very sad what’s happening to these childhood stars! Oprah’s Mama is in financial trouble! Seems she’s been doing some shopping to the tune of $155,547.31! Yup! She allegedly owes a Wisconsin boutique for various purchases. Her Mama hired a team of three lawyers to defend her against the claim. She shoulda just hired Oprah to pay that jam! Have a great day!