Yesterday, she quipped, “You ought to go on vacation more<\/em>.”<\/p>\n That hurt.<\/p>\n We all have the urge to do something — anything — to improve things. The urge should be curbed. The cost is 7 feet of paperwork awaiting \u00a0my return.<\/p>\n Is there a taxing authority in the world that doesn’t want a piece of my body? Or worse, a long explanation from me?<\/p>\n Is there a K1 that isn’t polluting my desk with its endless pages of trivia and low returns?<\/p>\n There is a real benefit to veging (as in vegetabling) out.<\/p>\n These happy people were enjoying the sun in front of the Zion National Park Lodge. They probably are happily clipping coupons from their triple tax-free muni bond portfolio.<\/p>\n I should be, too.<\/p>\n David Corbett, author of Portfolio Life: The New Path to Work, Purpose and Passion After Fifty <\/em>talks of clients who, after long corporate careers, have reinvented themselves as sheep farmers, cheese makers, nonprofit agency executives and even world peace advocates.<\/p>\n The worst part of all those K1s on my desk is the realization that I have zero<\/strong> control over their managements’ idiocy.<\/p>\n They took my money. They promised the world. They delivered paperwork.\u00a0Endless paperwork.<\/p>\n Gambling is not fascinating, but may be addictive. <\/span>We put a quarter in a slot machine. We won $13.25. I wanted to take the money and run. Susan wanted to stay and play out her “luck.” \u00a0She promptly lost the next five quarters before she succumbed to my nagging to get the hell out.<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n I looked around. Hundreds of people were sitting in front of machines.<\/span><\/p>\n Didn’t they know they couldn’t<\/strong> win? Didn’t they know the machines were programmed to suck their wallets and their ATM card dry?<\/span><\/p>\n I watched people play roulette. The wheel has a double zero. That skews the odds heavily to the house. <\/span><\/p>\n The house always<\/strong> wins. That’s how they can afford to build even bigger houses.<\/span><\/p>\n These are brand new and on the strip.<\/span><\/p>\n Sign of the times.<\/span><\/strong> Even the horses are complaining about our obesity.<\/span><\/p>\n I didn’t buy an iPad. My son, Michael, the geek, emails me “I continue to not want one.<\/em>” All his reasons are in Jasbone’s <\/span><\/span>post.<\/a> <\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Fortunately I’ve been recommending Apple’s stock. And it has continued to rise. Nobody can make hype like Steve Jobs. It rubs off onto his stock. \u00a0He’s already sold 700,000 iPads. That’s at least $350 million. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n You don’t want an iPad, yet. Trust me.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Favorite recent New Yorker cartoons:<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.technologyinvestor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/Vegingout.jpg\" "\\"Vegingout\\"")
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