A Working Girl!

So today I’m officially entering the the realm of workers. No, it doesn’t make me chafe against the greed of the capitalist, I’m actually very thankful for capitalists who will employ me. 🙂 So the details that everyone is asking me about… I’ll working at Rockford ID Shop, they make hundreds of these little parts for airplanes. Apparently their parts are in nearly every plane, so that’s pretty cool. It is a family-owned business trying to keep afloat despite the pressure from super-big corporations. I’ll be answering the phone, doing computer work, and other stuff. While they’d like a full-time…

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Review of “Taking Chance”

This isn’t really a proper review, just my own rantings on the subject. 🙂 I was all excited to watch Inception tonight…but it was a little too chaotic for my parents, so we watched Taking Chance instead. It is the story of a Marine who volunteers to take the body or “remains” (as they say in the movie) from the East Coast to a little town in Montana. As I said on Facebook, it was a heartbreaking movie. Why? Because the message was so clear: War is good. War is noble. Go sacrifice your life for the “greater good,” give…

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The Days Slowly Ebb Away…

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Firstly, the trackpad on my Mac stopped working this week. While this was really annoying and frustrating, it thankfully was not so much of a crisis since I have an external mouse which is doing a decent job right now. I miss the convenience of having a trackpad right there under the keyboard and I miss all the great finger swipes and shortcuts I was used to. Computer work is a bit more laborious, I feel like I’m almost using a PC again and not a Mac. And if you were at my Tuesday webinar, I think the problem was that my…

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A Philosophical Dilemma

Oddly enough, this post was inspired by an Andy Griffith episode I watched last night. Let me quickly summarize the story so this will make sense. Ellie (works at drugstore) discovers there’s a girl living out on a farm near town who longs to have make-up, lipstick, perfume, etc…but doesn’t have any. So Ellie and Andy go out to the farm and give her a sampling of these items as a gift. The girl’s father walks up to them, discovers the items, and makes his daughter give them back to Ellie, saying that she doesn’t have any need for them….

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First Webinar!

I got done with my first webinar about 30 minutes ago. On this night of The Biggest Snow Storm of the Century I was happy to stay inside and talk about economics…a great way to spend a blustery and frigid evening. 🙂 The first webinar was really great! I think everyone (including me) enjoyed it, and that’s the important part. What use is economics if you aren’t having fun? Webinars are quite challenging, and it will take me a little time to get used to this different format. It is hard not seeing my audience or hearing them ask questions….

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Thoughts on Egypt

I know that everyone is suddenly saying, “oh…I’ve got some thoughts on Egypt” or “I’ve always had a feeling about Egypt…” but hey, if you’re here reading my blog it is because you like what I say, so you might just appreciate my thoughts on the Egyptian crisis. Frankly, I haven’t thought much about Egypt before. It is like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. I vaguely knew they existed, but it wasn’t until everyone started talking about it that I got interested. I was watching some of the footage from it last week. I have mixed thoughts about what’s going…

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On the writing of a novel

I haven’t yet published my first novel (thought it is very close to publication by now) and I’m already planning my next one. This phase of writing is nearly as wonderful as the actual writing. Right now anything is possible. I can dream big dreams and create fantastic plots. I’ve learned many lessons from my first novel. So here’s what I’m doing different: – The first ever novel I wrote had a plot and theme much too small. It would have made a decent short story, but not a novel. It was misery trying to drag that thing out enough….

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Incongruity

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Incongruity In spring they make small splashes through the slush and hopeful puddles. In summer they slip softly over warm grass and rejoicing earth. In autumn they bump through skeletons of summer leaves and frenzied wind. In winter they leave rounded swirls in pure snow and frozen dirt. Garbage cans. – Savannah Liston

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Violence Against Cops

There has been a lot of uproar about police officers being targeted by criminals lately. Apparently 11 officers have been killed in the last day or two. And this is troubling. Saddening. And wrong. But I want to offer a “middle ground” between two extremes that I’ve encountered. Extreme 1: Government is evil. Cops work for the government. Therefore all cops are evil people. There’s this mentality of “well, they deserved it because they are government officials out to get my, ahem, illegal vegetation, or because I didn’t wear a seatbelt.” Extreme 2: Government is wonderful. Cops work for the…

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Mr. Madison’s War

I’m doing a history class this week on the War of 1812. This war has confused me and I’ve never been sure what to think of it. There are some very interesting things I’ve discovered so far. – Madison knew he wouldn’t have a chance for reelection unless he found some way to unite the country and better his public image. – The First Bank of the United States had just been disbanded, but the new owner of it (Stephen Girard) was very good friends with Madison’s Secretary of Treasury, Alexander Dallas. Girard funded about 95% of the War of…

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