March Madness

I'm going to allow for that post title to refer to more than just the wonderful bliss that is the NCAA Men's basketball tournament that starts Thursday. There has been a lot going on in the world of politics, finance, and the like. I am sorely disappointed in myself that I haven't been posting more, because there definitely has been a lot to talk about. In so many different areas. But I'm going to keep this limited to a few topics, hopefully.

I'm reeling from being accepted into the doctoral program. Seriously. I told a friend earlier today that I keep checking the acceptance email over and over again like it's going to say something different every time. It hasn't, and for that I'm so grateful. As I start to put together more and more plans for BYU, the more real it's becoming and the more excited about it I'm feeling. It is the right thing for me to do, and the right place to go, even if I'm going to ache from missing the people here and my beautiful southern California.

I have mentioned that I have been reading On the Road by Jack Kerouac. I don't think you all realize just how beautiful his writing is. It's really just perfect. And the guy is the grandmaster of the semi-colon. I'll include my favorite excerpt here that comes pretty early on in the book:

I woke up as the sun was reddening; and that was on distinct time in my life, the strangest moment of all, when I didn't know who I was - I was far away from home, haunted and tired with travel, in a cheap hotel room I'd never seen, hearing the hiss of steam outside, and the creak of the old wood of the hotel, and footsteps upstairs, and all the sad sounds, and I looked at the cracked high ceiling and really didn't know who I was for about fifteen strange seconds. I wasn't scared; I was just somebody else, some stranger, and my whole life was a haunted life, the life of a ghost. I was halfway across America, at the dividing line between the East of my youth and the West of my future, and maybe that's why it happened right there and then, that strange red afternoon.

I just love that last line. It's so perfect, and such a great summation of being a crossroads and having that kind of strange out of body experience where you know that you are at a significant dividing point where you're about to be injected from childhood to adulthood. I think throughout life we have many moments like that, where if we're aware enough, we can briefly realize the transition steps from one point in life to another. This is going to sound dumb, but I think it relates; when I was about eleven or twelve years old, I can actually remember asking myself when I was going to stop watching exclusively cartoons and playing with toys. When I asked myself that, I abruptly realized that by even asking the question I was stating my newfound perception that such things were childish, and a kid doesn't think about being a kid, you just are one. Does that make sense? It's a weird sort of realization to have about yourself and where you're at in life. I love that line...dividing line between the East of my youth and the West of my future. Perfect.

I was reading some of Larry Kudlow's observations on the burial of Bear Stearns yesterday, and he made some interesting general observations about the economy:

While the media is trying to make pessimism our new national pastime, the president is right. The U.S. has faced numerous credit crunches down through the years and the free-market economy has survived very well.

What’s more, while the usual clamor for more government action is coming out of Washington, let’s not forget that it’s the private sector that drives our great economy towards success. Prosperity-killing actions from Washington, like tax hikes, trade protectionism, or massive over-regulation, would certainly stunt the long-run health of the economy.

Ultimately, market prices in the housing sector must adjust. That is the only viable solution. And while some families will be forced to become renters, other families will have a chance to purchase a new home at affordable prices. Capitalism is all about winners and losers, and it’s the market that must drive the adjustment, not the government.

The market is going to go through it's adjustment period. Does this mean we're going into a recession? Not sure. I read this thought elsewhere, but I think it's very true, that the best measure for the effect of the state of the economy on the average person is not how he perceives it as a whole, but how he feels about his own personal economic situation. Are you having trouble making ends meet? Other than gas prices being high, are you struggling more now than you were a year ago, or two years ago? That should tell you a lot about how things are going.

On another note...it sucks that BYU got an eight seed that happens to run into probably the second best top seed in the tournament, right? Have you all filled out your brackets? If you need an invite, let me know. I know some people...

And lastly, I did it. I registered for the Chicago marathon. $110 later, I'm slated to run 26.2 miles on October 12th in Chi-town. Greg, I can't believe you're going to make me run this by myself. Does anybody else want to join me?