Wishful Thinking

I spent most of my day either sleeping or watching movies and tv shows.  I also spent a good chunk of it sleeping in the middle of the day.  At the very end of it I was conned into going out and shooting pool for 2 hours, give or take.  I spent very little of it reflecting on the events of 10 years ago.

There have been countless tv specials, columns, photo essays and memorials today, as there should be.  It all kind of misses the point though doesn’t it?  If you are an honest, good hearted person are you ever really going to forget?  Doall these event really do anything beyond remind us of the pain that we endured?

The answer, like the attacks themselves, is not simple.  We have a duty to honor those that died on September 11th, 2011; there is no doubt of that.  We also have a duty to our family, our friends and ourselves.

I, like everyone old enough to remember it, remember exactly where I was that day.  In fact, that’s the first thing I think about when anyone brings up 9/11.  I was in Honors English with Mrs. Weidner when another teacher burst in the door and said in a deeply disturbed voice, “terrorists have attacked the twin towers.”  I didn’t even give the teacher a chance to say yes or no, I just ran to the back of the classroom, pulled out the TV and turned it on.

We were glued to the TV in ways that we never knew.  Horrified, we sat and wondered what was going to happen.  How were they going to fix this?  No one had any answers.  The reporters had nothing to offer us other than what they could see with their eyes.  No one from the police deaprtment, the mayors office or even Washington D.C. was on the phone with them telling them to assure the public because they were taking care of it.  Nothing.

The first tower falls.  I think the first tower really didn’t get to us that much.  For some reason seeing the second tower still standing was like a beacon of hope, a sign that they can do their worst but we’ll continue to fight back.  Finally, Mrs. Weidner was able to collect herself, and realized that we needed to move on to the next class.  There were only two of us left down there, and she wrote us hall passes and moved us along.

There were too many emotions running through us at that time to distinguish any 1 feeling from another.  I didn’t run up the stairs as I usually did in the normal rush to get to class on time.  I slowly climbed all 5 flights of stairs, not really sure what to make of what was going on.  I was on my way to AP Government with Mr. Reid, and I really wasn’t ready for what was coming.

Mr. Reid’s classroom had double doors with floor to ceiling windows.  He had to keep most of it covered up so that students passing along wouldn’t disturb the class, but it was a nice change from the normal.  As I got up there I could tell that the entire class was busy watching the news and not attempting any classwork.  This was a relief at first; I wasn’t going to be put in the dark for 45 minutes on what was going on.  Though I’ve come to loathe my timing.

As I opened the door I immediately turned to the TV.  I hadn’t even begun to close the door behind me as I watched the second tower crumble.  I don’t really remember much from the rest of that class - I wish did.  Instead, that image has been burned into my retina and I can’t forget it, even if I wanted to.

After that class I went to Pre-Calculus with Mr. Newhardt.  Unlike my other teachers he was determined to keep us calm by focusing on classwork.  That or he didn’t want to deal with it himself; I like to think he was stronger than the latter.  Though, it didn’t matter that much as my mother showed up to the school and took us home halfway through the class.

That morning my father was on a flight to Greenville, SC.  My uncle worked right around the WTC and one of my mother’s cousins was working in the Pentagon.  Predictably, we weren’t able to get ahold of any of them at first.  My father was first to check in, my uncle managed to catch the last ferry out of Manhattan and then got in touch with us, but my mother’s cousin took longer.  Though they all made it, it was still an incredibly stressful event.  We were lucky unlike so many.

The days following were strange.  Most teachers tried to focus our attention on school work, but some were so shaken they couldn’t help but let us talk endlessly about it.  Seniors were talking about enlisting between classes.  Lunches were mum.  If nothing else, having something that touched us all at least gave us reason to ignore our petty differences for a moment.

A few days later I, along with some classmates, were asked to go to a local TV station for an interview before President Bush addressed the nation.  I don’t remember much about the interview, I was only asked one question, “What kind of emotions are students feeling?”  In my own confusion I found it a difficult question to answer, but I still think I was right on the spot, “There’s a lot of anger, a lot of sorrow, but most of all we don’t know what to feel.”

That very weekend following we went to a drag race at Elizabethtown, NJ.  The entire day was dedicated to the cause of relief efforts in New York.  I was still in such shock I couldn’t enjoy any of it.  I remember at one point being so upset I just ran out the gates and was walking mindlessly amongst the parking area.  My father finally found me and brought me back in.  He could see I was upset, and perhaps inconsolable, but that didn’t stop him from trying.  His words could not relieve me, but they did give me a sense of purpose which I carry with me to this day, “do not let the terrorists win.”

Not long after my uncle got married, the same uncle who barely managed to escape Manhattan on 9/11.  After the wedding he had a pre-reception on a boat he chartered in the Hudson.  We weren’t even sure if the boat was going to be a go since the authorities had shut down all non-essential water traffic in the area, but in the end we were allowed to go.

Sitting on that boat all I could do was stare at the smoke rising from the towers.  The lights, the sound of generators the endless line of emergency vehicles, these are all things that I simultaneously wish I had never seen and am eternally grateful that I did.  

Midway through October I had tickets to go see the Miami Dolphins play the New York Jets.  I was a huge Dolphins fan, and going to the Dolphins-Jets game at the Meadowlands was one of the most anticipated events of my year.  As we drove to the stadium you could see New York, and most noticeably, you could see the towers not there.

For years I had been a die-hard Dolphins fan.  I got worked up about it when they lost, I felt near genuine hate for our opponents, especially the Jets.  That they though, I had no interest in being angry anymore, not over sports.  As I sat there and tried to enjoy the game all I could think about was Ground Zero, the Pentagon and Shanksville, PA.

Through the game, and definitely after the Dolphins’ inevitable loss, I witnessed the same dickishness that I had seen in all the years past.  How many times I had gong to that game and it never bothered me, it was just how a sporting event was.  This time though I was disgusted with how we treat each other - even in the wake of the worst attack on the United States these people were still so consumed in something as irrelevant as football.  That was the last time that I ever went to Dolphins-Jets game.

It was only a week before the game that we invaded Afghanistan - and so began the true terror on our nation.  The attacks emboldened us at first, sorrow and anger gave us the courage to turn to arms and fight that which had brought us so much death.  But it didn’t take long for us to fear.  Fear of war, fear of going anywhere abroad, fear of going to famous attractions or even the fear of living near a major city.  Would this turn into a volley of terrorist attacks and war?  Was our destiny to live in a state of violence?

Fortunately no.  But that fear hit us all.  I remember being opposed to the German Club being allowed to go to Germany as part of an exchange program for fear that they would be vulnerable to attack while over there.  I even wrote a letter to the school board and had it read at the meeting when they voted on it.  It is true, I definitely let the fear get to me.

It wasn’t until my sophomore year in college that I finally came to deal with that fear in a productive way.  The school Army ROTC office had sent me a letter asking me to join.  My entire life I had no desire to join the military, and purely out of fear of death.  When I got that letter I spent a good time thinking about it and what it really meant to me.  The Army needed people who could think a little differently, people who had been educated, not just those down on their luck with few options.  I was going to do this.

At first I had a free pass.  I was able to try for a semester before having to formally commit.  That time came and went quickly.  In that time they showed me parts of myself I never knew existed, that I could face danger and tackle my fear.  After that semester I signed my commitment forms and it was done; I was in.

I wish I could say that I went on to serve my country overseas along side my comrades.  Unfortunately medical troubles resulted in my eventual discharge.  Many say I was lucky, that’s it better that I never went.  Maybe it is, but I can’t help but feel like I should have been there with the 972 MPs.  It’s a feeling that you can’t explain to anyone.  You just have to smile and say, “yeah, I guess you’re right,” and move on knowing that it isn’t true.

Since then, like so many American’s I have struggled with the job market, crushing debt and a lack of faith in our elected officials.  Easy is not a word I would use to describe the last ten years.  Not to say it has all been bad.  I’ve traveled the country, met some amazing people, done amazing things and best of all I have met a girl here in Chicago that I love very much.

I’m making progress, but last night was hard for me.  Watching a special on A&E about a photographer who was trying to reconnect with people from Ground Zero she took photos of was excruciating.  It stirred all the wrong emotions in me and left me with nothing to hold onto.  It reminded me how sad and scared I was, but did not give me any of the unity that we as a nation experienced right after the towers fell.

The documentaries and iPad apps are beautiful and a great tribute to those that have been lost, but their failing is not being able to give us hope.  Think of it like this:  there’s an awful lot of music out there today that evokes feelings of sadness and dispair.  Music has always been a way to express feelings, and sorrow is one of those.  The difference is, where a typical mainstream emo song will make you feel like slitting your wrist after hearing it, something like, a Weezer song, will leave you with an odd smile on your face at the end because you know it will be alright.

To be fair, all of these tributes don’t have much to work with when it comes to expressing hope.  Our leaders in Washington are rubbish, our economy is worse than anyone is willing to admit and all signs point to it getting worse.  These tributes fail because we are failing ourselves, our country and everyone that gave their lives on 9/11.  All because too many people have forgotten.

As I stated at the beginning, if you are an honest, good hearted person you will never forget; you do not need banners, and TV specials to remind you.  Those things will only bring you back to the pain.  Which, isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  But, if you are greedy and uncaring of anything but what is best for you and not for this country these specials will give you a moment of pause, perhaps it will make you tear up a little even.  After that though, you will go back to finding loopholes to avoid paying taxes and benefits to full-time employees, you will continue to fight against gay rights and fair medical care to all, you will continue to be the people that have brought this nation to its knees.

Between the victims of 9/11 and the casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan there are nearly 10,000 people we owe it to be better as a nation.  I am not perfect, not by a long shot, but I try to be a good person, to treat people fairly and with respect.  That’s all I’m asking, is it really that much to ask of people.  When someone loses a job because a company is trying to make more money, not even because they are losing money mind you, it is a crime against humanity.  The same goes when Congress blocks legislation to help the heroes at Ground Zero battle the diseases they now suffer as a result.  ”Why?” is the only thing I can think when I hear of such things.

I probably won’t sleep tonight, not because of thinking about 9/11, that is something that I’ve learned to live with, but rather because of how disgusted I am with our nation and the number of people who live on being hateful and selfish.  And that is exactly why we have failed them.

(you’re not missing anything, that’s the whole post)

Sporting events are perhaps the most polarizing forms of entertainment.  Unlike a movie with a set protagonist and antagonist where you are clearly meant to root for one side sporting events offer two sides which can both be protagonists.  Unless the Yankees or the Jets are playing, in which case they are always antagonists.  It is for this reason that sports catch on so well.  In a movie you can express your hate towards a villain no more than you can rest in a cloud.  With sports though, you can shout at, fight with, or defenestrate fans of the opposite team with ease.  So, it’s really quite interactive really.

Unfortunately this has also led to problems: parents getting into drunken brawls at ping pong tournaments, Red Sox fans selling their homes (and wives) to get World Series tickets, and apparel with the Yankees logo on it.  Amazingly enough though, this is not the biggest problem with sports.  The biggest problem with sports is our limited attention span.

Imagine if you will a world where baseball had not evolved from its humble roots of the late 18th century.  Players wouldn’t be steroidal monsters, home runs would be quite rare and you would actually be able to afford to take your family to a game for the afternoon.  In fact, it would be quite like cricket.  There would still be a strong following but there would be little to no interest in the sport outside of the die hards that grew up playing it.  No $100 million contracts, supercars or mansions.  Amazing as that sounds, at some point someone figured out that if you change the rules a bit every now and then, make equipment better, make players stronger, that people that otherwise wouldn’t care will stay interested longer, especially when these small changes result in records being broken.  And there you have it, the formula for turning a somewhat popular sport into a phenomenon.

This process has been going on for years.  The NFL, MLB and NASCAR are probably the most notorious practitioners of this method in the United States.  The NHL is a little more traditional, and no one cares about basketball anyways.  The equation works, and in moderation it’s great.  The problem occurs when the leagues get greedy.  For MLB it was the steroid era.  Yes, it revitalized the sport after the strike, but the lasting effects are killing it again.  NASCAR is facing the problem of failed modifications that are arguably making the sport more boring.  The NFL is currently in the midst of this process, big time, and though they haven’t felt the consequences yet, they will.

The NFL has set into this mode where they want scores in the hundred thousands.  That may be slightly hyperbolic, but I doubt by much.  The key to high scores is passing.  Great passing quarterbacks have electrified games for quite some time.  From Johnny Unitas to Payton Manning passers have been gods.  The problem is they are few and far between.  Any quarterback in the NFL can throw, but few of them are elite passers.  This is a problem in a league that wants higher scoring, well, it was a problem.

To combat this problem the NFL tightened the pass interference rules making it much tougher for a defender to stop a receiver from catching the ball.  Rules created with the guise of protecting the quarterback from injury have made it harder for a defense to really let him have it, giving the quarterback more time to throw an accurate pass.  The effect: more passes being completed and higher scoring.  Everything the NFL wants, or is it?

The obvious consequence is defenses are being limited.  If defense is limited it means that cornerbacks and safeties are going to have to become more elite.  Which means teams without elite secondaries are going to get stomped on and they have to hope that the opposing defense is equally as bad.  Football players know this is a bad combination, old school football fans know this is a bad combination, but the NFL only sees money going into their pockets, short term.  If the system continues to runaway like this eventually the league will have to ease up on the rules to give defenses a chance and it will have an effect similar to steroids in baseball.  Don’t believe me?

Here’s how this will play out unchanged, especially if the league goes without a salary cap from now on like it seems.  The elite quarterbacks that are left are going to run over everything.  All the other teams will score because the rules will be made to allow almost anyone to score as long as the ball gets up in the air, but they won’t ever go the distance because cornerbacks and safties will be the new quarterback and receiver.  Teams like the Bills, the Lions and the Browns will remain perpetual losers.

This brings me back to the polarizing factor that I spoke of at the beginning of this column.  If you know the team is going to lose, you aren’t going to go to the game, buy a jersey, or even watch the game anymore unless you are a deep rooted fan.  Some teams are already to that point.  When the team eventually gets sold or moved to a new city the old fans will feel betrayed, and if they have half a wit to them, they’ll understand what happened and just find something else.  People will start telling stories of how when they were younger 30 points in a game was a miracle, none the less 50.  The game is rubbish, it’s a league of overpaid sissies.  Wait, that’s already happening.

Sure, the NFL is doing fine now.  But when you alienate your core fan base, the folks that really love the sport, to keep bringing in and retaining people that spend 90% of the game talking about their date last night it leads to problems.  The core fans will abandon you and with ticket prices as high as they are (and rising) when you hit a losing season prepare for empty seats.  People will still watch, but they won’t buy jerseys or comforters.  The effects might not be as bad as we are seeing with steroids in baseball but it shakes things up much more than will make any owner comfortable.

In the end people enjoy sports because it gives them something to root for.  Whether you win or lose it provides emotion and excitement.  That’s why for many it’s more than a game.  For a 23 year old recent grad that’s struggling seeing his college hockey team come back from the brink of disaster to win the national championship wasn’t just a game, it was a bright light in an otherwise dismal part of his life.  That’s why the leagues can’t alienate us or discard us as merely sources of income.  Some cities live (Boston) or die (Philly) by their sports teams. Teams, whether they like it or not, are much more important to America than they can possibly know, so set a good example.

In conclusion I’d like to say to the sports leagues of America this: if you want to keep the stands packed how about not raping us with ticket prices?  How about you take a hard line with greedy athletes and set caps so you don’t have to raise ticket prices to unspeakable heights to pay for the players?  And please, don’t fiddle with the game too much, we like it how it is.

—-

Title thanks to Brian Regan.

You may be curious as to my recent spat of rather long posts that look more like newspaper columns than updates.  The idea behind it is that I have no idea what my next job will actually entail and it has been some time since I’ve actually had to sit down and write.  So, in an effort to dust off my abilities I’ve taken to writing essays on things I am somewhat passionate about, or at least topics that will get me into shouting matches with the right people.  Will, it work? Only time will tell.

There are a lot of questions these days.  When is the recession going to end?  Will I have a job next month?  Why are the Republicans willing to let the very people that vote for them die because they can’t afford health insurance?  All of which are good questions, but there is one that keeps getting relegated to the back pages of the newspaper because people don’t seem to think it’s that important: what will computing be like for us in the next couple of years?

We are getting to a point, if we haven’t already reached it, where computer technology is far exceeding the needs of consumers.  Sure, industries and academic institutions always need more power, but as for you and me, not really.  For example, I just installed Windows 7 on my PC.  That computer is 6 years old, and aside from an outdated sound card everything works just fine.  On a brand new computer it would be astounding.  That brand new computer would allow you to watch HD movies on your monitor, or you could hook it up to your television, but my 6 year old machine is still capable.  Even the needs of almost any gamer are at their max, save of course if you are trying to play 3 different games on 6 monitors simultaneously.  But seriously, for your everyday consumer we’re at the limit and we aren’t really going to feel the effects of advancements in our everyday lives with our home PCs.

It is interesting to look at the differences in the approach to computers between my parents, myself, and my siblings.  My dad uses computers for work and he does browse the internet, while my mom only uses computers when absolutely necessary.  This is to be expected of folks from their generation.  For me, I can’t get enough of computers.  The capabilities of technology fascinate me and I’m constantly looking for new ways to implement technology, as long as it’s practical of course.  Now, just 3 years younger is my brother, and he, like my sister and my youngest brother, use computers purely for their needs.  They do not care what Snow Leopard can do or when the supposed Mac Tablet is coming out, all they need to know is can they do what they have to.  This is a trend I am seeing with most that are even just a few years younger than me.

Part of this phenomenon is likely due to the ubiquity of computers today.  When I graduated high school they were still fairly expensive and not very well utilized by high schools.  By the time my brother graduated from high school they were everywhere, and they had gotten a lot cheaper.  Of course there are still your 13 year old hackers that somehow have figured out how to get into the White House lawn sprinkler system, but aside from them the curiosity into how computers work and what they can do is dying down, partially because they kind of already do everything now.  Is that a problem?  Well, before I can answer that, we have to look a few years down the line.

So what is next?  The common answer to that question is smartphones, and rightfully so.  You can already do so much on a smartphone: pay your utilities, track shipments, order take out, watch movie trailers, a lot of things you used to need to be at a laptop or desktop to do, and now you can do that from literally anywhere.  Over the next couple of years you will see traditional cell phones phased out and smartphones will be the new norm.  Right now though, I want to focus more on the traditional home computer, because it is still far from dead.

The home PC is going to serve a few functions in this new world of smartphone craziness.  First, it will be there to back up your smartphone.  Whether it breaks, is hacked, or simply gets old, you are always going to want a more solid machine to back it up to.  The PC will also still be your default text editor.  I never see a college student sitting down to write a paper on a cell phone, though it is possible that if smartphones get powerful enough that we could see a resurgence of the university computer lab as students save money on a laptop they really don’t need anymore.  Home computers biggest role, however, could come in the form of the automated home.  Lighting, sprinklers, heating and power could all be regulated by your PC.  Systems like that now are quite expensive, but over time they will be commonplace.

Home automation is a sticky point because people don’t like the idea of a computer being in charge, and rightfully so.  What happens if the computer crashes, or is hacked, and you can’t turn on your heat when it’s 30 below.  If these issues can be successfully addressed though, it will be great.  Imagine a single computer that keeps everything together: from what movies get downloaded from Netflix for your shinny new high def, to having computer served voicemail through VoIP, and a touchscreen monitor in the kitchen to consolidate the whole family’s calendars from Google Calendar and Microsoft Exchange servers from work.  To top it all off you’ll be able to turn on the lights and unlock the doors as you’re turning down the street from your smartphone.

All of this is great, but the take home message is that you needn’t worry about how you will interact with computers in a few years, because you won’t even think about it anymore.  They are just going to be there, ready for what you need at all times.  The idea of them being so intertwined with your life may be scary, but trust me that there are some really smart people out there working for people that want you to buy into it, so they will find solutions.  The greatest part of this future is that you will be able to actually start forgetting about computers.  Go back to your old hobbies of making beer, or apple picking, whatever you like to do you’ll be able to spend your time on rather than surfing the web endlessly and not knowing why.  Dorks like me will still be around to ask what is next and to keep things working, albeit in the background for you not to worry about.  So, you don’t have to become computer geeks, just be comfortable using your own computers, and get used to playing with smartphones.  I promise in a few years it won’t even be an issue anymore, but we all need to have to drink the punch and have a little faith for it to work.

Notice:  I’m not revealing anything specific, BUT, if you are a fan of Blue Harvest, Star Wars, or Family Guy then you could very well figure out what I’m talking about.  Be forewarned.

I just watched Something, Something, Something, Dark Side and I’m very content now.  I will say that it is not as funny as Blue Harvest but it is still a must see for Star Wars fans.  There are a couple of negative points but overall these can be overlooked for the wonderful tribute it pays to the greatest sequel ever made.

Something is far from perfect and there are a few issues I have with it.  Missing from the spoof of The Empire Strikes Back are the truly witty jabs at the missteps of the original film.  It does point out some oddities but does so with much less grace than Harvest and in some cases is very blunt.  For example, in one scene Chewie breaks the 4th wall to tell you to watch the actual movie to see how weird something is (I won’t spoil what it is, especially since it’s something I’d not noticed before).  Additionally, Something spends more time on cutaway gags than its predecessor and is eerily reminiscent of the progression of the entire series from season 1 through today.  The cutaways were seemingly more frequent, were less relevant and generally just not as amusing.  Perhaps my biggest pet peeve is the focus on Stewie being gay.  Seth, we get it, Stewie is a gay baby and that’s taboo, let’s move on.  All the characters retain a little bit of their Family Guy persona in these roles but I feel Darth Vader is more Stewie than he should be.

While the faults are blindingly obvious there are several redeeming factors that for many fans will forgive all sins.  The largest by far is the dedication to good animation.  The detail in nearly every scene is unprecedented for a Seth MacFarlane series.  The effort towards making the scenes look spectacular resulted in a little less dialogue than Harvest and a more visually based experience.  Another nice touch is that the writers left out the amazingly obvious jokes (a few of which were on the commentary for Harvest) and instead took the lines in unexpected directions.  I hope that some of these jokes make into deleted scenes on the DVD but it was very good editing to leave them out of the finished product.  Finally, Something is more of an homage to Empire than a spoof.  There were minimal changes to the storyline, differing vastly from Harvest, and jokes were geared away from making fun of the core concepts of the series, such as the Force.  While this takes away from the humor aspect, the love for Star Wars that the writers have is evident and makes a big impact.

Something, Something, Something, Dark Side is a flawed beauty.  It screws up in a few places but the intention is good which is something that is really shown through in the animation and the respect paid to The Empire Strikes Back. Something, Something, Something, Dark Side will be released December 22 in the U.S. and Canada on DVD & Blu-Ray.

After reading SpellChecKing’s blog this morning I got to thinking a bit.  Usually when I think I strain myself and usually I need a beer and a three week vacation to recover, but this one was rather straightforward if when you break it down.  The United States is providing absolutely no incentive to go to college right now.  Students must strive to stay motivated regardless of what is thrown at them, but there are three entities that are working against them every step of the way: universities, employers and the government.

First, universities are too caught up in trying to create ‘well-rounded individuals’ instead of graduating students with actual job skills.  It seems absolutely bonkers to me that you can spend $160,000 on a degree to come out and not actually qualify for any specific job.  A great deal of this falls on the student, and rightfully so.  However, as I can remember from my experience as a student, students are often misled.  There is a delicate balance in college between being a responsible adult and trusting in your educators.  Let’s face it, we go to college to learn, and part of learning is often trusting in the opinions of professors and counselors to guide you in the right direction.  Often times though, they are not critical enough of our choices.  As much as I loved my advisor in college, she never really pushed me to tell her what I wanted to do after graduation, and in hindsight I really wish she had, because I might have realized much sooner that I was setting myself up to be screwed.

Second, employers need to tap the creativity of college graduates.  I am an incredibly intelligent and gifted individual, but since I have graduated not one employer (that actually wasn’t a relative) has even given me a chance to show what I can do.  It is as if as soon as I am hired they forget everything that was on my resume and just put me into a repetitive motion, never to change, and I know I’m just one of many.  While there are many more college grads today than ever before, let’s not forget that it still takes quite a bit to get through it.  There is so much potential that is being wasted by taking new grads and putting them in jobs that stifle their drive.  Employers, please, for the love of God, listen to your employees ideas and get them on projects that will give them the opportunity to prove they are more than just a drone for editing excel spreadsheets.  America needs these ideas to reinvent itself and taking the conservative approach will ultimately lead to complete stagnation.

Lastly, the government just doesn’t seem to care about keeping college grads on US soil anymore.  The government just seems to have this opinion that graduates are going to stay in the US because there is nowhere else to go.  WRONG.  Without efforts to keep highly gifted individuals here you are going to see talent move to Asia in droves in the next few years.  It is already happening to a large extent with Indians and Koreans that come here to learn but then go back home.  I can’t say I blame them, I’d want to live in my home country too, but if they are taking great ideas over there to bloom, the job demand will grow, and eventually American students are going to stop accepting mediocre jobs in their home states and go after greater opportunity.  It is a lot to leave your home, but if the opportunity is there that is what Americans have done for over 200 years.  The government needs to make it a priority to keep talent in this country.  That topic is largely for people who know more about economics than I (I know very little sadly), but I do have one suggestion.  Create programs similar to military recruitment for other government jobs and actively recruit juniors and seniors and in exchange for 4-8 year contracts forgive federal loans or simply pay towards the recruits education.  I’d love your feedback on that idea in particular, as I’ve discussed with a few people before.

Coming out of college, which is supposed to be a prestigious affair, has to reclaim some of its fanfare.  When a graduate from a top notch university is fighting just to eat, but a garbage truck driver of the same age is buying a home and a new pickup it’s sending a dangerous message to high school students.  That message is if you work very hard and you take on near insurmountable debt that you will spend at least a fair portion of your life miserable and begging for scraps while your friends that smartly became carpenters and plumbers are enjoying life.  Don’t get me wrong, we need carpenters and plumbers, but if this country is not to fall to the side of the road and be overtaken by China we need the innovation that can only be achieved by educated individuals.  So America, don’t take pity on we graduates that are struggling now.  We don’t want your pity, we want your respect, and we want to be paid a fair wage for what we bring to the table.  Stop impeding us and call it character building!  If you can not, or will not, do that, then I dare say we will have to get used to the idea of being the falling empire.

I really like shooting shotguns at clay pigeons.  I’d apologize for such a simplistic post, but that’s really all I wanted to say.  So take that Ross Perot.