1.) Current Events: Well right now you have natural disasters and our boob of a president dominating the news. The earthquake in Haiti was, well... bad. The earthquake in Chile, at least according to the Richter Scale, was badder. So bad, in fact, that it moved cities. Look, I feel bad for any and all people affected by these disasters. But at the same time, from a geographer's standpoint, the effects these earthquakes had on our planet are just really freakin' cool. A local GIS guy here in Chattanooga had some interesting thoughts on the subject that sort of sum up mine. I invite you to check out his thoughts (and his entire blog) right here.
2.) Current Events, Part II: Like I mentioned above, I guess the other big story capturing the headlines is the ongoing debate over the Democrats' healthcare reform proposals. Anybody that knows me knows that I am a pretty conservative guy. I am an avid supporter of smaller government (and yes, I know the fact that I work for the government is ironic). I could go on a several-thousand-word rant about this subject. The topic is talked about so much now, that I am starting to just not care anymore. I've lost the will to fight it. And maybe that was the Democrats' plan all along, I don't know. What I do know: our country is bleeding money by the millions. China is inching closer to owning us, in a very literal sense. We have the highest unemployment since, what, 1984? And yet, President Obama doesn't know how to talk about anything other than healthcare reform. Does healthcare in America need change (har har)? I certain areas, I'm sure it does (though I'm far from an expert on the subject). It just seems to me that there are more pressing concerns in our country right now. Like, oh I don't know... the economy (more on that in a moment). If the Democrats had tried to push through reform over the course of a few years, I think they could have been a lot more successful. Hopefully this all-or-nothing attempt will ultimately fail and they will be forced to go back to the drawing board. If it doesn't? I'll try to forget about it and go on with my life. I can't let politics dominate my day-to-day life and how I feel when I wake up in the morning. You shouldn't either.
3.) Economics (or Current Events, Part III): Hey, did you notice the price of gas is creeping back up again? Buying groceries is now outrageously expensive? That, kiddos, is what we call the beginnings of inflation. I'm no economics major, and I would be lying if I sat here and tried to explain the processes of inflation (or stagflation) or whatever it may be that's happening. But I can understand that when the government is giving away billion-dollar stimulus packages left and right, expanding government services whenever possible, and running the printing presses double-time to produce all this extra cash... it can't be good. The value of the dollar will naturally drop. When you couple that with that fact that most businesses (or in my case, a county government) can't afford to give their employees raises... uh oh. Can I rewind about five years and choose a different major? One that doesn't leave me hovering near the poverty line? Crap.
4.) Entertainment: Oh well, on to happier subjects. Like television, our escape from reality. Well, unless all you watch is reality shows (personally I hate them all). My recommendation for what to watch currently centers around the CBS network. Specifically, Monday through Wednesday is full of all kinds of win. My personal favorites at the moment: How I Met Your Mother. Two and a Half Men. Big Bang Theory. CSI Miami. NCIS. NCIS: Los Angeles. Criminal Minds. All of those shows are worth your time, in my opinion. At the movie theater, the last flick I caught was Sherlock Holmes, though I admit that was two months ago. Holmes gets two big thumbs up from me, and is worth checking out on DVD here soon. Just a note: I neither saw Avatar, nor have any desire whatsoever to do so in the near or distant future. It just LOOKS stupid. Call me crazy (or worse), but sometimes, I simply base decisions that I make in life on the "stupid test". Does it look, sound, or appear to be stupid? If so, I probably won't do it.
5.) Sports: Finally, let's take a look at the sports world. Since I last wrote, our beloved Crimson Tide of Alabama won the 2010 BCS National Championship. To see I was happy about that was a bit of an understatement. The basketball team was far from replicating that same success, but hey, I'm trusting Coach Grant to get things turned around eventually. The NCAA tournament is now upon us - a time of the year that gamblers everywhere look forward to like Christmas morning. Baseball is next up, with spring training having already started. While I usually get bored with it by the time August (and football) gets here, I'm usually excited this time of the year. I'll try to get my look at the 2010 Atlanta Braves up within a few days.
Finally, I'll leave you with a few things that I am diggin' right now, and a few other final, random thoughts...
- I'm diggin' Thai food. The spicier, the better. I'll blame my not knowing about this until my 26th year to the fact that Florence is a culinary wasteland when it comes to anything outside of Applebee's, Chili's, or various local catfish restaurants.
- I'm diggin' this blog. It's called "UniWatch", and is one guy's look at all things uniform-related when it comes to sports. It may sound cheesy or boring at first, but I promise, it's got some really cool stuff. Paul is an interesting writer, even though he is a damned Yankee that gives way too much love to hockey and curling, of all things.
- I'm diggin' The Sims 3. Geeky? Sure. But man, is it an easy way to kill an hour or five.
- Random thought: Florence is boring, unless you have kids. I've learned that children love Deibert Park, and to a lesser extent, River Heritage Park. Watching them have fun can bring you joy. But when a 27 year old male goes to Florence alone and tries to find something to pass the time? Oy. Good luck. There's only so much fun to be squeezed out of going to Regency Square or, gulp... Wal-Mart (shudder at the memories).
- Random thought: There is a new thang called "Moblogging", which is basically, updating your blog via your mobile phone. I might be giving this a shot, since my attention span (being that of a monkey on crack) rarely allows me time to update the site.
- Random, final thought: Geotagging, or the art of assigning a geographic location to a blog post, tweet, Facebook status update, etc.... it's really cook. 'Specially for a geo-geek like me.
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