Quantum Theology

Shall we continue to spend so that jobs may abound? Certainly!

What is, the life, universe, and everything?

or, some of us rather. It seems to me that the people who dispense with religion are not driven by the question.

If I had to do it all over again, would I take the red pill, or the blue?

I got one of those alumni newsletters from UCSD the other day. Apparently the school of engineering got ranked 13th out of 1000 international schools. Dang. How do you like me now!

Rankings be damned. My diploma has Arnold’s signature on it! Boo Ya!

I suppose I should spend this Memorial day by watching ‘Saving Private Ryan’ or the ‘Band of Brothers.’ The truth is, after Vietnam, there has not been a war worthy to have a holiday over the dead.

The mantra to our soldiers is quite lame. They are not doing any noble deeds worthy of thanks or song. They are not protecting our liberty, and it’s arguable if they are protecting anyone else’s liberty. The truth is that people are dying for an unworthy cause. The truth of death without honor. That is the truth that nearly nobody has the guts to say out loud because it hurts so much. Because that truth demands an answer to the question of why. And because that answer points first to our leadership, and second to the people who elected that leadership. It requires admitting an error, and taking steps to correct that error. It requires admitting the fact that Iraq is … Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition (FUBAR). Sure, Iraq might have been FU before we got there; but then again, we added the BAR.

While our leadership are not scum when taken in the perspective of history, they are still failures as leaders. Surely we can do better.

It seems to me that people tend to assume they are middle class so long as they make some decent amount over minimum wage.

Middle class people need to have a bit of financial independence. Not a whole lot, but a little. Suppose a middle class person looses his job, he won’t go bankrupt for a little while because this person has a reserve of assets. What I am trying to say is that in order to be middle class, you need to have a positive net worth.

Interestingly enough, in San Diego there are people who don’t earn middle class wages who ARE middle class by virtue of asset appreciation. Any Joe Foobar who owned a dump in a crappy neighborhood, got a free ride right up into the ranks of the middle class.

On the other hand, there are people who earn middle class wages, who are NOT middle class due to spending habits and/or getting stuck on the wrong end of the local asset bubble.

I just think it’s funny how many people like to think of themselves as middle class. There should be a new term for the white collar poor. Someone creative needs to think of one.

How money gets spent has changed greatly over the years. I know this by observing how my parents and grandparents lived, and how I am living now.

Back in the day, less money was spent on a house and more was spent on things like cars and clothes. Single income households were much more common then today. Houses tended to be smaller and families larger.
Today, thanks to globalization, the price of goods in general has dropped a LOT. On the other hand, the price of health care, education, energy, and housing has risen dramatically. Also, dual income households are becoming the norm. Oh yeah, we got large houses how!
The major lifestyle differences lies in the shift to dual incomes for households. The rise in housing and energy has made a single family income unworkable in many areas.

I want to talk about price inflation for a bit. The rise in housing, energy, and education, has hit the 20-30 crowd quite hard as those are the dominant expenses for that age group. For retired folks, rises in health care and energy has also been hard. It seems to me that if you are between 35-65, none of this matters much. Unfortunately, this is the age group that contains many of societies leaders. I don’t think they quite understand the issues facing the up and coming generations.

It is pretty sad out there in San Diego. I have only ONE friend in SD who bought property on his/her own. The rest are renting, living at home, or living in a gifted home. That’s out of a sample set of about a dozen people between the ages of 23 and 30. One thing is certain, their lives won’t look like their parents. I suppose that’s always the case and to be expected.

My first day in Manitou, I ate at the Sonic for lunch, and Adams Mountain Cafe for dinner. How fitting, that now, on my last day, I repeated the routine. I didn’t do it on purpose, it just seemed fitting.

I am sad to be leaving my multi-colored house, and the white-capped peaks of Pikes Peak, and the bubbling Fountain Creek, the oh-so-blue sky dotted with puffy clouds, and the fantastic summer weather which has a good mix of wet and dry.

I’m sad to be leaving, if only for a year.

I didn’t quite realize how little stuff I had until I had to move it. One of these days I will have to buy furniture. I wonder if that day will be sometime this year… I really don’t want to buy furniture until I know I have ceased my nomadic wanderings. I just really would hate dragging around a bunch of stuff. There is nothing easier than deflating an air mattress and stuffing it into a box.

I think I’ll go outside and watch the thunderstorm…

…and homesick. Yes, I do miss my little house in the mountains, and it’s only been a day. It’s going to a LONG year.

On the upside, my motorcycle feels extra powerful down here at lower elevations. Perhaps tomorrow I’ll see if it will do a power wheelie.