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So we went to the mall to look around and stretch our legs.
Glenn got a cute gift that Mommy bought. There were a bunch of little craft kiosks around the mall, so he got a print with a cute saying for each letter of his name. Ironically, the man who sold it to us son is named Glenn as well, same spelling.
Went and saw a few watches while I was there. Very unimpressed by ESQ brand watches. It may be swiss, but the fit and finish were awful compared to the Seiko I was wearing. It also cost about twice as much as well. It was a chronograph with a cheesy digital display. Kinda like a $30 Casio or Timex, except it cost about $230.
Tried on a Bulova Chronograph as well. Solid end links, nice case, asstastic quartz movement. It only ticked once a second with no tenths or hundredths of a second dial. It cost over $330. For that kind of money I can pick up two (2) Seikos that the timing hand moves at 1/5 second intervals AND it has an alarm AND a dual time zone.
Methinks the Swiss are relying on their history a bit too much.

I don’t usually worry about it, but holy crap Batman, look at the economy!
Stock market:
Worst year opening since the Great Depression.
Housing Market:
The year to year foreclosure rise in measured in the 100% to 400% range!
The only time house prices have slipped this much is the Great Depression.
Only about half the ARM’s have reset themselves so far.
Savings Rate:
Since 2005, the savings rate has been NEGATIVE!  This, surprise, has not happed
since the Great Depression.  This means people are spending more than they are making.

Seeing a common theme here?  They only time indicators have been this bad was the Great Depression.
That is really really not a good sign.  After riding the 80’s stock boom, the 90’s internet bubble, and the 00’s Housing bubble, we are in for a hell of a correction.

Scary times.  I don’t think lowering the interest rate or giving everyone a check for $1,000 is really going to fix it.  The economy really needs a correction so the true value of the dollar is met again.  It will be a rough ride.  Japan had a recession for 15 years.  The difference there is they were saving 15% to 25% of their paychecks. The US has been saving -5% for a few years now.

So, I hope you have been saving and have a fixed mortgage with no credit card debt.  If you have been good, you should be fine.  If not, like most Americans, I think many of our citizens are in for a rough ride.  How long, I don’t know. 

But I was at MicroCenter today and saw an Asus Eee PC

It is a mini laptop with a 4g solid state hard drive, 8″ screen (800×400) and running Linux!
It was very easy to use and fast.  It is running a custom version of Linux, KDE applications.  They say it is compatible with Winblows XP, but I don’t really care about that.  The size was great!   The keyboard was small but usable.  Pretty impressive for $350.  If we ever get another laptop, this one may be it.  Small, great battery life and no moving parts, and it comes pre-loaded with Linux!

Thankfully everyone is feeling better.  I would of never thought I could do some of the things I have done in the last 2 weeks.  I am really glad Glenn is feeling better.  You really don’t want a baby with a stomach bug, that’s all I can say.

It is nice to hear silence every now and then.  Glenn has been teething, which is not that fun.  Drool everywhere.