A Long, Serious, But Rewarding Post.

There are three things that can basically sum up the content of my life at the present:

1. Anticipating the New Year party at D. Till's
2. Working/Writing A LOT
3. Digging my car out of its parking spot because it is stuck in the snow literally every other day.

And you know what? Life is good. A feeling that seems to be rather scarce these days. Over the last two months I found it very hard to get into a Christmas spirit with good will towards men, peace on Earth, and not playing my drums too late so that I didn't irritate the neighbors. And this problem didn't reside just with me but, I am sure, for loads of people across the nation.

This season people found it harder to be cheerful in such hard economic times. Holiday cheer was scared away any time you would turn on TV or whenever you would go shopping. Elements of the terrible economy were everywhere. Gas prices were, and still are, plummeting. Scores of stores were offering insane deals (often at a loss to them) to try and bait people to spend their money there.

Such a terrible economy lead to one of the worst shopping seasons in history- not in "years" or in a "decade"- but in history! January 8th is the target date for several research firms to finish a report completely analysing the slump that was this year's shopping season, but initial surveys have found that on average businesses conducted nearly 25% less business compared to several years previous. 25%! That is absolutely astounding and terrifying.

And the worst part isn't ever close. Nearly every economist predicts the eye of the storm hasn't passed but is on it's way. The government is stepping in and trying to curb many institutions from going bankrupt with the $700,000,000,000 (that's a lot of zeros, I know) bailout plan with well over a trillion more planned in the future. The act of government intervention means the concept of a "free market" and a capitalistic society has failed us and cannot work, let alone thrive, as hoped by generations

So why the recap on all of the bad news? It seems the media does enough to ensure us that America has reached the end of the tracks and that a slow economy is essentially the same as Armageddon. Any light at the end of the tunnel has been extinguished, American citizens are helpless at the hands of an uncontrollable situation, and your only option is to stay tuned to see what's next.

So why is life good for me? But none of that last paragraph is true.

History shows that pressurization has ALWAYS forced adaptation. We are not at the end of anything. Sure a few ways of life may change. We might have to tighten our financial belts, we may have to sacrifice that new 40" LCD TV, and maybe even take the bus places. But a bad economy doesn't mean the air we breath will disappear and life as we know it come to an end.

Human nature is that of an inventive one and we will find new solutions to an old problem. This holiday season don't let the media, economic situation, or any other problem that seems to be all to prevalent and out of your control distract your from living your life and enjoying what you do have at the moment. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Chad

P.S. Two things. First, for those of you who don't know, I am now writing a section for my company's iPhone application (i.TV) called the "What's Hot" section. It really cool because I update it every night and literally hundreds of thousands, if not even millions, of people read it. Cool!

Second, on January 6-9 my company is sending me as a representative to Mac World in San Fransisco. Its basically a really nerdy, all expenses paid, business trip and I am looking way forward to it.