I have to say that I'm a little disappointed that Jim doesn't have a post about me being a plague-carrier. I was really hoping for that after I got him and Zach sick.
Ok, so tomorrow, I'm going to be more productive. At least until the drinking starts in the nighttime. Crap. Starting to panic about school. That's good, maybe I'll actually get something done then. I've been beginning to wonder if my laziness is just my way of being afraid of success. Or maybe, that's what laziness is for most people; just a fear of success.
Wow I'm tired. I'm surprised because I'm usually up much later than this working. Like last night after I got home, Jim and Zach hung out in my room until like 2:45. Crazy bastards were swearing up my ridesafe van.

My Day

Well, I spent the entire day doing very little. I managed to get some readings done for my Bus491 class. But, other than that, I spent most of the day playing Capitalism II. It's this business simulator that I got at EB for 6 bucks. It's very, very good. You can run all sorts of different businesses; from mom and pop grocery stores to Pharmeceutical Research Labs to Automobile conglomerates. There's even a simulated Stock market where you can go in and trade stock of companies in the game. Very addicting, but I'm going to recommend it to the Business club because it would be a great way to learn about all of these things.

Bush Bashing as a popular passtime

I was watching Jon Stewart today (it was the one from last night) and I couldn't help but notice that the writers of that show sometimes really stretch for stuff to criticize W on. W announced in his State of the Union address that he planned on changing social security to a system where you pay into your own plan and you can even choose what products you want to put into your plan. Basically, it turns into a mandatory 401k. They were making fun of Bush for saying that the government couldn't invest the money any better than an individual. Well, sorry Jon, but Bush has you there. Market efficiency is something that all investors have to deal with and even the federal government can't do any better than me throwing darts at a wall. However, this change isn't being implemented because of the government being crap at investing, it's being implemented because of something else Jon said: that there aren't enough people paying into the system to support it in it's current form.
So, bashing Bush because he's implementing this is just plain stupid. I mean c'mon, save your bashing for when he totally screws up the implementation. After all, everyone knows that Bushs biggest fault isn't his ideas, but the way he executes them.

The Plague of Suburbia

I've been thinking about urban sprawl a lot lately, trying to figure out if there is a way to cure it. Because, for the life of me, I can't figure out the appeal of living in the suburbs. Sure, you have your own house, but the yard is so small that you can't do anything in it and you don't have any of the privacy that you want because your neighbors are so close. I don't see why people don't like Condos more for their ability to keep you close to amenities and at the same time it provides an environment that you aren't responsible for cleaning and maintaining. Of course, a lot of people, who have nothing else to look forward to in their lives seem to get a lot of pleasure about putting a lot of work into their ugly houses that look exactly the same as their neighbors. But, the work can't make the house look too different, or you might be fined by the city for not being enough of a conformist sheep.
The biggest problem that I have with suburbia is it's lack of positive externalities. While a rural area provides recreation space, carbon sinks and water purification and High density urban areas create dynamic environments full of interesting shops and are very easily maneuverable using public transit; suburban areas provide nothing of benefit except for a box to live in. They aren't dense enough to provide services that urbanites enjoy, yet they are too dense to provide the lifestyle that ruralites enjoy. Therefore, you need to drive everywhere in your Toyota Camry or Ford Explorer (the staples of the suburban sheep) and you spend half your day commuting which increases stress and makes you fat. It seems like a high price to pay for the ability to have a barbecue in your own backyard. Y'know, because the professional quality outdoor grills that are available in modern condos are so unappealing.
I was reading the wikipedia article about urban planning. Apparently there is a new movement called 'new urbanism'. The jist of it is that New Urbanism encourages design based on walkable communities. The community is no more than half a mile in diameter, and is fairly high density. In the community centre there is a public school, doctors office, community centre, set of shops, and a transit centre. Apparently Florida has several communities designed like this and they work quite well. I've even read about an infill project in Toronto that is using this design scheme.
Basically, I spend a lot of time driving around suburbia and observing suburbanites, and I can't help but feel that this way of living is nothing but wasteful and inefficient.

I just got back from home. I was there over the weekend. I had to come back and write an exam. CS, blech, it went terribly. So much for the inspiration to succeed.
One of the funny things is, that I went home to get my T4 from Toyota so that I could do my taxes. And it wasn't there. Well, I got an email from my mom and it arrived. Today. The day after I got back!! So now I need to wait for it to be mailed to me. Ugh.
But, weekend was good. I went and studied at the lake for a bit. Studied at home for a bit. Went to a movie with my cousin John and went to dinner with my friend Kelly. Other than that, it was a pretty quiet weekend.

Sunuva. I've got a blog

Well. Notable accomplishments of the past few weeks: Getting all of my roommates sick, writing my Business ethics exam, buying pants, and now posting my thoughts on a site no one will read.

Got my military reference letters dropped off at the offices of Larry Smith and Rick Theisz. I'm really struggling with my decision about what to do when I graduate. Do I join the army? Or do I go looking for a job in Toronto. The finance jobs in Toronto will be better paying. But, I really don't think that I will get the type of training I need to run my own business working on excel for a firm on Bay Street.

I'm going home on Thursday, I'm planning on talking to my parents about my decisions. I'm also going to be studying on the weekend for my CS430 midterm. I can't believe my prof scheduled an exam during reading week. Ugh.