Ripple effect

We've survived our first week of life with crutches quite well, I'd say. The whole driving to base every morning thing is a bit annoying, but I only had to wake up early for it once, so not so bad. (I am not a morning person. Not even a little, so how early I have to wake up on the average morning can really change how I view a week.)
We've been watching a lot of American news coverage this week as well, using the lovely internet connection. We watched more debates, but we've also been following the economic issues pretty closely. For Zack, the measure of just how bad things are getting is the stock market. For me, a much more real messure is the exchange rate.
For those of you who don't know, I get paid for most of my classes in yen. I don't spend as much yen as I earn, which led to the formation of the "Bank of Anne" this summer when we had visitors. All summer long, my exchange rate at the bank of Anne was 105 yen to the US dollar most of the time. Sometimes a little higher, sometimes a little lower. And in general, I follow what the rate is at real banks (particularly on base) because I figure eventually I'll have to trade some of my earnings back and I might as well trade while the trading's good. So this number means something more real to me than the stock market numbers probably ever will.
When we arrived in Japan, the exchange rate was hanging around 120 yen to the USD. It's dropped pretty steadily since then, but only once in the year we've been here has it hit 100. All summer, as I mentioned, it was right around 105 (probably a little lower, since the Bank of Anne tended to round up a few yen). It was still around 105 when we left for Yokusuka. In the last four days it's gone from 1o3 to 101 to 100 to 97, which is today's rate. That's the lowest I've seen it since we've been here. And at 3:00 every weekday, the rate changes, so I'm very curious to see what will happen today as we approach the weekend. The last time I really followed it this closely was before I was earning any yen. I'm really just wondering how low it will go (and on a more selfish note, at what point I should go ahead and trade over). It's not often that money holds my attention like this.
Anyway, I'm also back into the marvelous world of cooking again. I still don't feel well enough to grill a lot of meat plain. Zack made himself some steak last night that I find myself avoiding in the fridge today, but I made chili and even did some pork chops not too long ago. I consider this a major victory.
My problem now is that Zack's been home so long, I'm ready to eat a lot of foods that he doesn't generally like. In the past, due to our "long distance marriage", I would patiently wait until his ship left (which was never more than a week away), and then cook whatever it was that I knew he wouldn't like. Now with his leg broken, I'm gradually realizing that this particular method of keeping everyone happy at meal time will not work out so well in the long run. So today I'm making split pea soup from a recipe I got out of a crock pot recipe magazine and fell in love with. Aside from the peas, it has onion, sweet potato and spinach in it. It's vegetarian with an "option" to add ham that I've never used. Zack's got leftover steak from last night, so I'm confident he won't starve, and for now that'll work just fine. If I'm lucky, he'll even try some, and may be I can add it to the normal meal circuit... but I doubt it. Oh well. I'm just glad to be cooking again!
One week to the doctor's appointment where we might find out if Baby is a boy or a girl, so stay tuned...