Dont steal public transportation

Today, on the Lightrail (RTD), there sprung up four cops checking to see that people had paid their fares. By "sprung up," I mean that I did not realize that they were cops until they took out their badges. (Though in my defense, I was reading my homework---so I wasn't playing much attention until the badges came out.)

Anyways, I am used to the RTD security guards; I treated them exactly the same way that I would the RTD guards. For me, there was no difference...I asked them how they were; I showed the cop my student ID (which doubles as my bus-pass) and went back to doing my homework. Ok, I did treat them differently---I normally joke to the guards that they should feel free to doublecheck my homework.

But there was someone else on the train who claimed to have paid and couldn't find their fare stub (provided that they were telling the truth). So the cops were writing down their information. Unfortunately, the person also claimed to have their wallet stolen recently. And because the cops had to make sure that they were who they claimed to be, at the next stop they took them off to remain in their custody until they (or the police) could confirm they were who they were.

I understand being willing to run the risk of a forty dollar ticket...and I suspect that the Lightrail guards are given false information all the time...but to risk arrest to avoid paying the RTD fare, well, that is just stupid.

The moral---don't steal public transportation, especially if you are trying to get somewhere on time.

Shooting people over lack of tenure

I will admit that I am a little shocked over the fact that a professor, Amy Bishop, decided to shot several of her fellow teachers in Alabama. And over tenure, to boot.

I am not shocked that another shooting has happened at a college. Shootings at universities, colleges, and high schools, just seem to be part of our modern life. I am not sure whether to blame the easy availability of guns, the lack of medication (or theraphy), or our society's overwhelming exposure to violence (video games and movies) for most of it.

But tenure? Ok, this worries me. Sort of.

I live in Colorado, a state that has abandoned the concept of funding for higher education.

(I jest---we are either 49th or 50th in higher education funding depending upon who you ask. That is not an abandonment of college funding; this is merely voters, tax payers, and politicans deciding that anyone standing outside of Starbucks with a tin can is capable of paying for their own education.)

Now I am not too worried about the campus where I go to school. I have heard several professors joke about the possibility of their checks shrinking. I figure as long as they can joke about having to sell pencils to the passerbys on Colfax that none of them are going to go postal.

Besides, we do not have any importance tied to our campus. Auraria Campus may serve forty percent of the college population of Colorado; but let's be honest, we are not known for anything else.

And most of the professors are adjunct professors, part timers, as far as I can determine.

It is the other colleges in Colorado that I worry about. But not too much. C'mon, can you think of any college that anyone would want the respect that goes along with being tenured at them?

And it was the respect that Amy Bishop wanted if I am reading the news reports correctly. Then again, she did shoot her own brother...decide for yourself what that might mean.

Snow Days 2009

The last couple of days, I have been snowed in. Oh, I could have gotten someplace if I really wanted to, but I am finding that as I grown older that the urge to brave the weather lessens every year.

I have discovered that you can tell a lot by how someone spends a snow day. In my case, I napped a lot. My wife, Toni, spent the day napping also (she thought she was coming down with some bug).

I could have spent it working, but my heart was not into it. The same goes for homework. I am still having days when I hear my sister's opinion of my entire life in my head (basically, she thinks that I am doing everything wrong and generally wasting my time while leeching off of others).

It is for that fact that I really do not feel guilty about not accomplishing anything on these snow days; after all, I am not expected to. There is also the little fact that I am doing National Novel Writing Month starting on November 1^st. I figure that considering that I am going to be attempting to write 50,000 words in thirty days, plus do everything else that I need to do in November, that a couple of naps while being snowed in are not the end of the world. In fact, I might actually earn them next month.

Early warning---most of my posts that I do in November are going to read: Day X of NaNoWriMo, Y words done, Z words to go.

I wished I would have wrote this

There are times, both as a college student and as a freelance writer, that I read something and say "Gee, I wished that I would have wrote that; it is so much better than what I wrote." Today, over at Helium, I had one of those moments.

The other day, I wrote a review of a gaming suppliment that I had stumbled over: The Book of Erotic Fantasy. I suggested the title to Helium and it was approved. It is one of those titles that you hope becomes competitive, just so you can read the comments that others are making.

And this morning, I discovered that someone else had looked at the book and commented on it: Carrie Schutrick.

I am green with envy. I really wished that my review of this gaming suppliment was as good as hers. She said everything I wanted to, and some stuff I should have.

Here is the link to her review of The Book of Erotic Fantasy. Enjoy.

Personal economic indicators

This morning, I watched a video clip by Jim Jubak about creating your own economic indicators. This idea made perfect sense to me. When I was in the restaurant business, I could tell where the economy was headed based on the behavior of my customers.

It is because of that fact that I say that the economy has been in trouble for a long time. We only recently officially declared a recession. But from the ground floor, the recession has been here for a long time.

The economy started to look sluggish before 9/11. I was already cutting loose employees because sales were down. Then 9/11 happened; and in the space of an hour, the economy jumped to what it was going to be two years in the future. And from where I was sitting, it never actually recovered (official numbers say differently; my customers would have disagreed).

I was using this personal economic indicator, as well as the rent and house prices in my neighborhood, to time my own personal entry in the real estate market. I knew that based on those indicators that we were in a housing bubble. My wife and I brought our house when the prices softened.

Personally, I wanted to wait longer until the bubble broke, but I could not afford to. My rent was going to go way up if I stayed in my apartment another year; as it was the rent on two apartments (me and the wife were only engaged at the time and living in separate apartments) and the art studio was the same amount as the mortgage payment we ended up with.

And in hindsight, the timing was right (despite the fact that we currently have an upside down mortgage): little did I realize that the economy was going to go so far south that I was going to lose my job and end up in college to earn a degree while the economy recovered. Fortunately, we brought a house that we could afford if one of us had employment difficulties (though I admit that I thought it was going to be her and not me).

But those of us on the ground floor saw it coming. As Jubak points out the official numbers are boiled and diced (my description, not his) and become misleading and confusing. So I agree with him that we all need to develop our own set of economic indicators for investing and business purposes.

Give me 7000 dollars please

Last night, I heard in passing that the little bailout for the banks is going to cost each one of us seven thousand dollars, and that is provided that we pay for it right now. (So actually because we are not paying off it upfront, it is like putting 7000 dollars on a credit card).

Now, I am not sure if the figure is correct. I don't care. But it did get me to thinking:

What could I do with seven thousand dollars?

My quick answer is that seven thousand is about what I am borrowing every college semester for living expenses. It is also about five mortage payments. It is also a lot of cat food, gas, and vending machine meals.

I wish that the government would just give us poor people the money, rather than bailing out the rich. And besides it is not like the money is actually going to keep us out of a recession.

Oh My Obama!

The 19th August 2008 cover of

CCD Campus Connection

the student newspaper of

the Community College of Denver

Is political correctness a danger?

Are we placing too much faith and hope on Obama?

Politics and friendship

One of the things that I am worried about lately is that my changing political views are going to start costing me friendships.

I always been strong in my political opinions, but I have always been able to see both sides of the problems that face this country. But lately, I noticed that I am leaning far more towards certain opinions than I used to.

I am not sure if it is because I am in college, and am absorbing the views of my professors and classmates, or if these changes in my outlook are just a natural growth of my own mind.

Either way, I am starting to notice that more and more I am starting to disagree with friends that I used to agree with.

For instance, I don't think that locking our borders and outlawing outsourcing is going to help our economy. I also do not believe that our, or any other country's, economy is a zero sum game. I think that we should be focused on the long term and not just quick fixes.

Unfortunately, I have some friends who lean towards the opposite. I did not realize how much my own politics had changed until I started to avoid talking politics with them. I know that I can not bring them around to my point of view, and I really don't want to bow down to their opinion either. And in the end, I think that my changing worldview might just be enough to destory the few remaining friendships that I have left.

I hope not, but I am not going to hold my breath either.