We’ve all stood at the grocery store wondering whether we should switch to another checkout line, thinking to ourselves “Would it be faster?” So we make the move and almost immediately realize it was the wrong choice. If we hadn’t switched lines … well, you know how it goes.

U.S. stocks continued their run of gains in the third quarter—albeit at a slower pace. The S&P 500 Stock Index closed out September with a year-to-date total return of 8.34%. That’s not a big bump from the gain of 7.14% it had garnered by the end of the second quarter—a quarter that saw the benchmark advance by more than 5%. Advancing but looking a little tired, don’t you think? No surprise, really, when you consider the S&P has gone almost 1,100 days without a 10% correction.

As some of you may know, the Beese Fulmer family welcomed a new member into our ranks on May 6 when our co-worker Nick Perini and his wife, Jillian, became proud parents of Lido James Perini. Lido is a bit of an unusual name to most of us, so think of car magnate Lee Iacocca, whose birth name was also Lido.

All kidding aside, there is nothing uglier in the country’s political life than the IRS scandal. That this most powerful agency has become so politicized that not one whistleblower has stepped forward is shocking. The brazenness displayed by employees destroying the emails of those about to be questioned by members of Congress exhibits a sense of total immunity from punishment that is, frankly, tremendously disheartening.