Men at work

In a Starbucks on Market St in Philly today I chanced to overhear a young insurance salesman working a prospect while his slack-jawed understudy looked on. "So lets just say we've got your mortgage and your other fixed expenses covered, how much income do you think you would need?" Like the guy's going to be able to estimate that. For retirement income replacement there are pretty much standard formulas based on a % of your income, there's no reason Life insurance shouldn't also be formula driven. He shouldn't be asking the guy that question, he should be giving him guidance. But he was probably trained to do this to milk prospects for bigger policies and premiums. I wish I coulda figured out who he sold for.

Later, in the wilds of backroads NJ, out for a ride of record length (for the kid at least), was only surprised see that Lindbergh Road (goes by the estate from which the baby was nabbed back in the day), a narrow winding two-lane road between nowhere and nowhere through woods over a "mountain," had a significant rise in traffic at rush hour. I've said it before, but this proves it: any through road in NJ will become somebody's shortcut at rush hour.

What's more, traffic picked up at 4;45. It was the ultimate getaway crowd.