Don't Go Beta

I made the unfortunate choice to move to the new beta version of Blogger.

The spell check does not seem to work (I gave up on learning how to spell very early in elementary school).

It also deos not seem to want to connect to Live Writer (which is an excellent tool for bloggers, in my opinion).

If you are using blogger, I suggest you don't go beta.

Can't Wait for January 1

Unusual for me, I was actually out last night.

I had a great time (except for poor service, you would think a waitress would know she could increase sales/tip with better service).

After the meal, I went up to the front of the place to listen to the band. It was a bit too loud for me, but I am growing old (heck even the early service at my church is too loud for me).

But what really drove me crazy was the smoke. As I have been around fewer and fewer smokers, I have become less tolerant of smoke. And it certainly did not help that I was getting over a cold.

Well, the bouncer was kind enough to see my reaction and asked the near by smoker to put out his cigarette. The smoker threw it to the floor, but did not stamp it out (someone else was kind enough to do that).

Come January 1, I will not have to worry about this in this city. We will be able to enjoy going out without having to deal with this form of air pollution (and often, as in the case of last night, litter).

The Not-so-Greatest Generation

Hmm... Concern from one person that parents give their children everything they ask for. Concern from someone else that the younger generation lacks a work ethic.

I would have to guess that they are related. I will admit that I got many of the things I wanted when I was a kid. And if it was just that, I could have wound up as a spoiled little brat. But I did not get everything. More importantly I was taught the importance of a good work ethic (of course I learned to procrastinate all on my own, but that is for another discussion).

I know we always talk about how great it is to have an ever growing economy, but isn't there something missing by not seeing the other side? The great stories of frugality that got people through the Great Depression, and had a major impact on how they lived going forward. The stories of times of war when people saved and recycled their tin and string, and whatnot (long before the word recycle entered the general vocabulary). Perhaps more importantly during WWII, they rationed gasoline.

The younger generation does not have stories like this, and we are probably entering a time where it is the great grandparents that lived through these experiences.

So, now we are once again at war. Do we ration anything because of it? No we are essentially told to go on using more and more (of course some of it goes back to help those we are fighting against, but we aren't going to let that stop the people back home from keeping on keeping on)

But what else about the easy life has changed? Growing up I was instilled with the idea that gambling was bad. Sure there was a state lottery but the greater focus was on Shirley Jackson's short story (one lottery I would never want to be a part of). Most gambling was all in one state, and mainly in one city -- Las Vegas (AKA Sin City). Nowadays it seems that every state wants every boat (even those that will be in dry dock in perpetuity) to be home of gambling. Lotteries have grown to cover most states and the mega lottos get mega hyped. The dream is to get something for nothing, the reality is that they are not much better off than is Tessie Hutchinson.

For a while Day Trading became the gambling fixation of many in the country. The belief that free shipping for sending kitty litter across the country would turn a profit, along with the crooks of Enron et. al. sent many day traders sailing towards Bankrupt Sea, but the belief in something for nothing still lives on.

Real Estate picked up where many left off in the world of stocks. You didn't need money to buy a house. traditional loans were for the fuddy duddies that stuck with traditions. A nontraditional loan means someone can buy a house that they will never realistically be able to afford. The rates are much lower than what those fools with traditional mortgages pay, and much better than the rates on the maxed out credit cards.

Of course non-traditional loans have a way of catching up with all these people, and the pain is only more acute when they realize that there house is worth less than what they owe for it.

Of course, hard times are ahead. What happens when more people learn the true impact of their nontraditional mortgage? What happens when we go from clips on the nightly news with people standing next to their SUVs complaining about the price of gas, to clips on the news with people unable to fill up on gas? One summer of gas rationing similar to what we experienced in an earlier generation might provide the shock some people need.

Will hard times prove to be a positive? Will we come out better for it in the long run?

I sure hope so.

-- Andy