My '99 Accord

This past Monday I lost a good friend: my 1999 Accord. My car broke down on the way to work, and as I stood on the side of the road, I was hoping that the reason my car’s engine was emitting white steam was because of some small break or a broken part that could be easily repaired. But nothing is ever that simple with automobiles. After I had it diagnosed, I was told that, among many other things, the head gasket was leaking, which not only would cost a good bit to be fixed, but could lead to other major problems down the road. It also had an oil leak, a blown heater tube, the timing belt needed to be examined and replaced, and a few other issues to the tune of two grand. After some deliberation, I decided the best move would be to sell my car to CarMax and save up for a used car. I’m very grateful for the family and friends that rallied around me during this time, but it was painful watching my ’99 Accord go. That was the first car that I owned out right, and although I only had it for four years, it was MY car and I had grown pretty attached to it. I had driven it to Cleveland to see family (twice), to the Blue Ridge Parkway to go hiking. I had driven it to the beach, and it was the car that had carried me to college those four long years during my time as an undergraduate. I kept it sparkling clean on the inside and out, and was proud to own a Honda. Now there is a sedan shaped hole in my heart. And although I will get another car and take just as good (if not better) care of it as I had my Honda, there will always be a special place in my heart reserved for my first car.

Options? Your input appreciated.

You don’t need to be an investor or some Wall Street savant to understand what’s happening in the stock markets right now. The market loses over 500 points, and then the next day is in the green. The following days it plummets again, and the teeter-totter continues its course. People seem to be split into two camps on the issue: some believe we are going into a double-dip recession, and others think that the market is just really volatile right now but that savvy investors will possibly save the day by buying up the stocks that others are jettisoning. I’m not exactly sure where I fall in this range. On the one hand I want to believe that we are only going through a rough spot and the market just needs to get a few bugs out of it. But on the other hand a part of me feels like we are heading towards something bigger than that. If leaders both here and abroad could just come to some sort of consensus about how to run their debt and fiscal policies, we might have a chance at building the economy back up. But while politicians duke it out in Washington and in Europe, the unemployment continues to climb, (see article: http://www.economist.com/node/21526408?fsrc=scn/tw/te/ar/doleful) both here and in Europe.
I believe people have been feeling very powerless lately to instigate any change for the better. If the politicians that we elected can’t figure out how to solve this problem, how can we make them listen to us and focus on what matters rather than squabble over party politics? Well, for one thing we could protest. But recently protests have been turning violent (i.e. England), and even when they aren’t violent, the authorities get anxious and start cutting into human rights, like in the recent San Francisco protests. Granted the protests in England were motivated mainly by the race relations in the UK, but many young people also used those riots as a time to vent their anger at the government and the high unemployment it had created.
I don’t have any answers as to how people could go about voicing their concerns in a better way, one that would catch the politician’s eye better than a violent protest. Right now I’m just voicing my observations, and hoping to hear what others think. If you have any ideas, or anything to add to this post, please leave a comment.

30 days

The time I spend interacting with social media outside of Facebook is close to nil. Up until this point I've felt like I never had time for Twitter or this blog. But recently I've been hearing so much about how these different social medias have been influential in the happenings in London, the Middle East and China, and so I thought I should make an effort to become more integrated into those social outlets. I'm going to try over the next 30 days to post more frequently on this blog and jump-start my twitter profile (I might also engage in LinkedIn discussions more, but we'll have to see). It's hard to stay motivated to do anything after a full day of work, but I think I'll get a lot out of becoming more engaged in this area. I hope to learn more about current events, our changing political and economic world, and just have more interesting conversations online.

So here's to social media and the new interactions it will bring.