The Economy
Almost daily I hear or see someone comment on the poor state of the economy. Often these comments are followed with one pertaining to President Obama's failure to turn everything around. In this time of instant gratification many of us have a difficult time with not getting what we want right now. Our economy is in a sad state, that is true, however, it didn't get there overnight and it won't be fixed overnight. It took the previous administration two terms to get us where we were when that administration finally ended.
Stop and think about it, let's say you have a decent job and modest savings when suddenly your spouse/partner goes on a spending spree. This partner spends all the cash on hand, empties your savings account and runs up all your credit cards. After you're in dept up to your eyeballs, this spouse/partner says "See ya!" and leaves you. Maybe this has happened to you or to someone you know, it happens frequently to every day people. It takes a long time to crawl out of this hole. How long usually depends on the depth of the whole you've been thrown into, but in any case, it doesn't happen in the blink of an eye.
Now, let's say you with your decent job and salary is our government and the spouse/partner is George W. Bush. Would it not stand to reason that it would take the current administration more than 2 years to climb out of the hole dug by the previous administration? Granted, things aren't getting better as quickly as we would all like but they are getting better. Don't lose hope, to borrow a favorite phrase from our former president "stay the course" and things will get better bit by bit.
Be Careful What You Wish For
Back in the day, when I was an adolescent in the 70's and easily embarrassed by the numerous TV ads for various feminine hygiene products, my peers and I often bemoaned the fact that boys didn't suffer the same embarrassment. After all, back then the only thing they occasionally advertised was a product called (if I remember correctly) Blue Star ointment, an anti-itching product which was recommended for, among other things jock itch. Hardly the equivalent to the bombardment of Stay Free, Kotex, FDS, and Summer's Eve commercials.
Now, fast forward 30 years. We are now watching TV on hundreds of channels via cable and satellite. We are even streaming satellite radio in our vehicles. We've gone from wired phones to cordless phones to cellular bag phones to smart phones. We've gone from handwriting to typewriters to word processors to computers to surfing the Internet. We have gone from being bombarded by commercials for feminine products to commercials for "E.D."
In case you didn't know, "E.D." is the polite way of saying erectile dysfunction, in other words the inability for a male to get it up. Nothing personal, guys, frankly I'm glad there is something out there to help you out if you need it but do I have to hear about it every 15 minutes? Is nothing private anymore? Back when I was a kid and bemoaned the injustice of all those feminine commercials, I had no idea what the future held. Be careful what you wish for, one never knows what will happen in 30 years.
Showing posts with label economy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label economy. Show all posts
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Assorted Tidbits, Stories and Opinions
StoryCorp
I listen to talk radio a lot and on NPR they have a weekly series called StoryCorp. It is a series of recorded conversations between two people, usually but not always related. These stories are heart touching, from the couple talking about the husband's Alzheimer's, t0 an immigrant who was a plumber by day and a healer by night, to sisters who grew up on the "divorce ranch" in Reno, to a man who was at Stonewall when the NYC police raided it and the now famous Stonewall Riot happened and the man with the first bionic hand talking with his children. If you have never heard this show, I encourage you to check out either the podcasts or transcripts at NPR.org. If these stories don't touch your heart, I don't know what will.
Politics
Every time the TV or radio is on, someone is complaining about the economy, unemployment and the deficit. Now, I'm not saying these things do not deserve discussion because they do, however the issue I have with these complainers is that they 1) expect this will turn around overnight, that the damage which occurred over several years can be corrected in one or two years. And 2) shifting the blame from the previous administration to the current administration. This country was in a pitiful state, already in a deep recession, entrenched in a war we had no business starting and experiencing high levels of unemployment when President Obama took office. We didn't get here overnight, and it can't be fixed overnight. One thing is for sure, our service men and women are coming home from the war Bush started. Time is essential, we must keep moving forward and supporting our president.
Ride Like a Pro
I took the Ride Like a Pro class this past weekend. If you are a motorcyclist and think you know how to ride your bike, you need to take this class. You will not only learn things that you didn't know but you will learn how much you don't know and the value of practicing your skills to avoid getting killed. This is really a tough course, physically and mentally. While I didn't do all the exercises perfectly, heck, I doubt I did any of them perfectly, this class has definitely improved my riding, my confidence and taught me some valuable skills.
Bad Ass Bikers or Dumb Ass Bikers
So, to take the above mentioned course, we had to ride from Phoenix to Playa Del Rey, CA slightly less than 400 miles from our door to the hotel. Even though we left our home at 7 AM we still had to spend a great deal of time riding across the desert in broiling heat. Temperatures that day were about 109, add to the heat from the asphalt and motorcycle engines, and it was a tad toasty. We stopped several times to cool off and rest, pouring water over ourselves. At one particular rest stop, I simply stripped off my shirt and soaked it in the sink before leaving the ladies room. Just about the time we hit LAX the temperature dropped dramatically, maybe 40 degrees. That was more like it, of course, by then we were almost at our destination. The following morning was damp and foggy, a nice change for these desert rats and stayed that way until halfway through the morning class.
After the class we headed south to San Diego to meet family in comfortable to cool temperatures. We spend the night there then headed back to Phoenix via Yuma. After about 50 miles on the road, once again we were riding in the heat. Could that be why they call that area of I-8 Devil's Canyon? Again we battled the heat, one of the few thermometers we saw showed the temp at 106 before noon with the hottest time of the day still ahead. We didn't see too many other bikers this trip, maybe they had more sense than we had. Of course, the closer we got to home the worse the traffic became. On I-10 near 303 the traffic became stop and go, as we went from medium rare to well done to charred. Getting off the interstate we took the surface roads home which was slightly better.
Finally making it home and we first cooled off then jumped in the pool to lower our body temperatures to a more normal level. Through out this weekend we decided that we were either bad ass bikers or dumb ass bikers but weren't sure which, Maybe they are one in the same.
I listen to talk radio a lot and on NPR they have a weekly series called StoryCorp. It is a series of recorded conversations between two people, usually but not always related. These stories are heart touching, from the couple talking about the husband's Alzheimer's, t0 an immigrant who was a plumber by day and a healer by night, to sisters who grew up on the "divorce ranch" in Reno, to a man who was at Stonewall when the NYC police raided it and the now famous Stonewall Riot happened and the man with the first bionic hand talking with his children. If you have never heard this show, I encourage you to check out either the podcasts or transcripts at NPR.org. If these stories don't touch your heart, I don't know what will.
Politics
Every time the TV or radio is on, someone is complaining about the economy, unemployment and the deficit. Now, I'm not saying these things do not deserve discussion because they do, however the issue I have with these complainers is that they 1) expect this will turn around overnight, that the damage which occurred over several years can be corrected in one or two years. And 2) shifting the blame from the previous administration to the current administration. This country was in a pitiful state, already in a deep recession, entrenched in a war we had no business starting and experiencing high levels of unemployment when President Obama took office. We didn't get here overnight, and it can't be fixed overnight. One thing is for sure, our service men and women are coming home from the war Bush started. Time is essential, we must keep moving forward and supporting our president.
Ride Like a Pro
I took the Ride Like a Pro class this past weekend. If you are a motorcyclist and think you know how to ride your bike, you need to take this class. You will not only learn things that you didn't know but you will learn how much you don't know and the value of practicing your skills to avoid getting killed. This is really a tough course, physically and mentally. While I didn't do all the exercises perfectly, heck, I doubt I did any of them perfectly, this class has definitely improved my riding, my confidence and taught me some valuable skills.
Bad Ass Bikers or Dumb Ass Bikers
So, to take the above mentioned course, we had to ride from Phoenix to Playa Del Rey, CA slightly less than 400 miles from our door to the hotel. Even though we left our home at 7 AM we still had to spend a great deal of time riding across the desert in broiling heat. Temperatures that day were about 109, add to the heat from the asphalt and motorcycle engines, and it was a tad toasty. We stopped several times to cool off and rest, pouring water over ourselves. At one particular rest stop, I simply stripped off my shirt and soaked it in the sink before leaving the ladies room. Just about the time we hit LAX the temperature dropped dramatically, maybe 40 degrees. That was more like it, of course, by then we were almost at our destination. The following morning was damp and foggy, a nice change for these desert rats and stayed that way until halfway through the morning class.
After the class we headed south to San Diego to meet family in comfortable to cool temperatures. We spend the night there then headed back to Phoenix via Yuma. After about 50 miles on the road, once again we were riding in the heat. Could that be why they call that area of I-8 Devil's Canyon? Again we battled the heat, one of the few thermometers we saw showed the temp at 106 before noon with the hottest time of the day still ahead. We didn't see too many other bikers this trip, maybe they had more sense than we had. Of course, the closer we got to home the worse the traffic became. On I-10 near 303 the traffic became stop and go, as we went from medium rare to well done to charred. Getting off the interstate we took the surface roads home which was slightly better.
Finally making it home and we first cooled off then jumped in the pool to lower our body temperatures to a more normal level. Through out this weekend we decided that we were either bad ass bikers or dumb ass bikers but weren't sure which, Maybe they are one in the same.
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