Category: General

Well another week is gone! (for us at least) I think we’re going to hang around here this weekend, go to a museum or two and explore Jakarta some more. Hopefully we will be able to take some more pictures to be posted on Monday.
The people at the Freedom Institute found some work for me to do today so I’ve been entering Journal titles and authors into the computer for a few hours. It’s nice to be useful. And I’ve now told Tom that he’s not ever allowed to use the word “toward” in a title (as in “Toward a Better Transatlantic Relationship”). Ever. Everyone uses it and it just ends up sounding cheesy (in my opinion).
A quick anecdote. I left on my own yesterday and was not having luck flagging down a taxi. A man passed me on the street and said hi, and had noticed my failed attempts. He walked up a little further, and just as I successfully caught a driver’s eye, he, not noticing, started waving at the taxi and pointing to me. I thought it was very nice of him to help me. Conclusion- all Indonesian men are not lecherous and rude. Yeah! (jm)

I, on the other hand, am brain-dead from too much thinking about political economy. Mundell-Fleming Conditions. Stolper-Samuelsson Theorem. Fixed exchange rates, floating exchange rates, pegged exchange rates, currency boards. M0, M1, M2. Liquidity. Liquidity squeezes. Interest rates. Exchange rates. Real exchange rates. Real effective exchange rates (what?).

On the other hand, go Sox. For your internet viewing pleasure, I give you the Boston Sports Guy. If you’re an Angels fan, my condolensces, and don’t bother. (tp)

Well we have an official outing planned for this weekend, we just don’t know what it is yet. Apparently, there is a “retreat” for those at the Freedom Institute this weekend and we have been invited along. We’re not sure exactly where we’re going or what we’re doing, but the people all seem eager for us to come along. We think it would be silly to pass up an opportunity to travel with locals, as it is usually a great way of getting around. We probably won’t be able to post on Saturday but we’ll be back with tales of our adventures on Sunday or Monday. (jm)

Despite the suspicious description of our outing provided by my associate here, it’s going to be fine, so nobody should worry. I think that it’s a big group, and we’re only going about an hour away or so. I believe it may be someplace up in the hills southeast of here, which suggests that it might be refreshingly cool out. And quiet and clean too.

By the way, there are new pictures up of our apartment complex that you may want to check out. (tp)