We've been bombarded by bad news for so long now.
The current recession. The prospect of a depression. It's all making me sad.
So has anything positive come out of this situation?
Is there a silver lining?
Sure silly. Now that the economy has gone sour a lot of the things we were told not to do are suddenly okay. Some things that were once ridiculed, are in. And stuff we forgot to do when we had money, we are finally doing.
For starters I noticed....
No more fat police.
The fact that America is a nation of fat asses isn't that important any longer.
The economy is in the toilet, unemployment is rising and people still need to feed their family.
So the fat police have been silenced and told to crunch their celery quietly.
Organic food is to expensive.
Fresh veggies cost more than canned.
Clintonomics and Bushonomic haven't worked.
Wendy's 3comomics will!
Go on, fill up on those value meals and .89 super-beef tacos. You don't have to feel guilty about eating fatty or fast foods. In fact, can you afford not to?
Name Tag Jobs
Those high-paying Wall Street and banker jobs don't look so cushy now after the well dried up and the pink slips started happening en mass.
But you know who's hiring: Walmart. TJ MAXX. CVS.
Jobs that require name tags are in.
They used to be a laughing stock, an aspiration for the high school diploma only crowd.
No longer.
I swear the guy that just rung up my purchase at Walgreens, was a retirement advisor at my old bank.
(On the bright side, he's got a steady job.)
Cheap Beer is back.
For years micro-brews and Sam Adams types have flooded the market and poisoned the educated consumer into assuming cheap beer sucked.
I admit it, I bought into this idea.
I loved me some Sam Oktoberfest, Bass and Magic Hat #9.
You know what my favorite beer is now - Miller High Life.
That's right, I'm living the high life!
I like it. My taste buds enjoy it. And at less than $5 a six pack, so does my wallet.
(Coors light remains undrinkable though.)
Driving = flying
Gas prices are down to below $2 a gallon.
So for the time being, the SUV hating, fuel-efficient car loving, bike-riding crowd has shut the fuck up.
And you can drive your big car all over town without strange looks from the SmartCar asshole who you almost flattened with your HumVee.
Until prices rocked back up in June, we can all afford to drive somewhere.
Who's up for a road trip to the Daytona 500 next month?
Coupons are cool?
I just saw a Paris Hilton wannabe, or used to wannabe, with her little yap dog in tow, pull out a few coupons for her groceries. (Honest to God.)
I was surprised to see this model-type food shopping in the first place. (Don't they order in?) But whipping out some coupons to save a few coins on dog food, hair care and frozen Lean Cuisines?
What the?.....Medic!
It must mean coupons are back in.
Saving is sexy.
My Grandpa used to talk about the importance of saving money for a rainy day.
I don't remember what his point was cause I was busy listening to my Walkman, playing Sega Genesis, piloting my remote control car or blowing my allowance on some stupid whim.
I'm guessing I'm not the only one out there who spent more than they saved over the years.
Now nationwide lots of people are all finding savings account and CD APR rates sexy.
I'm looking into a queen size mattress to fit more green backs. And spending my monthly wages on only what I need. (Must....resist....temptation...of iPhone!)
The rest, I'm saving. Lesson learned Gramps.
As for a return to the good times?
I have faith they'll come back.
Some of the lessons learned from this bad time, I hope will stay with us. And until the good times roll, never forget to look on the bright side. Always.
Stumble This
Reddit!
ALSO, women are no longer INSISTING on us men using condoms cos we simply CANNOT afford them any more.
This is GREAT news cos as I have ALWAYS said, condoms are a WASTE of mooney, and only SLAGS wore them (in the boom days) ANYway.
There were boom days?
STOP PICKING AT EVERYTHING I SAY
FINAL WARNING
Tim, you cheeky monkey...get back here...I have better things for you to do than to play on my computer...
Let me show you my laptop....
Final Warning?!?!?! What the hell does that mean?
Sarcky: Sorry, love. But this wanker reminds me of a hamster I met last week.
Go for it then...I'll sit back and watch...
Did we forget to tell Julian that the hazing never really ends around here?
you tell him julian !
(back to the original topic)
yes ! .. conservatism is back .. with a vengence .. no more interferring in other people's choices .. no more pointing of green fingers .. no more "holier than thou" judgements from the "informed" .. smoking my cig while ordering at Mickey D's drive through in my yukon is my choice and it always has been .. I'm sick of liberals defining my "change" and telling me that they know better than I do about my choices .. this economic wakeup call is about the best thing to happen in america in decades .. rugged individualism rules !
sarcky ... tim tends to tire about 2am ... you may want to adjust your schedule accordingly ..
Nothing sexier than a woman that turns her back on me and talks all conservative-like.
Can I get an amen, Dave?
I think I just had movement.
alex, thanks for the warning...but is he still on mountain time, or did you thoughtfully acclimate him to eastern time before forwarding him?
and was I supposed to forward him on to Vicky when I'm done?
I'd better slip some Centrum in with his Cialis if he's going to have energy for all three of us ;-)
I guess this bleeding heart liberal is commenting on the wrong post...
I'm feeling outnumbered...
good thing I can stand my ground...lots of practice living in the southeast...
comfort foods are delish, though...mac and cheese by the troughful, please...
and doesn't organic just mean "we're selling this to snobby college kids and suckers who don't know how to spend their money on things that last longer than a digestive cycle"
and Baier, now I want to stop at Taco Bell...
guess where we're headed for lunch Tim?
There really are some plusses to the depression:
1. Reduced economic output = fewer greenhouse gasses.
2. Misery loves company - Rich people who lost everything in say Lehman or Madoff, etc are now poor and can learn what it's like. Thus enhancing their empathic responses to the poverty.
3. Obama got elected. If the economy was going great would that have happened?
4. Deflation - if you have money, the price of things is going down.
5. Things have been sucky for a while. Real wages haven't increased in the US in decades. Now that the economy is totally in the tank we can acknowledge how bad things are. Getting past denial is the first step in recovery.
and it's making me watch less tv because I'm tired of the constant bad news...
Matt Lauer can finally lift that restraining order he's had on me*....
*kidding...
yes ! .. E ! ... well said ! ... "getting past denial is the first step in recovery" ...
dave .. how do you know that tokoyo massage is closed ? .. I drove past there a couple of weeks ago and noted that although they had no daytime business as evidenced by the lack of cars out front I had assumed that the nocturnal hours were quite profitable .. do you know something I don't ? ...
There are indeed open in the evenings ... uh, errr.
Nevermind.
he owns the place...(owned?)
Yeah, It was in the Casper Star.
They got busted.
Check it out.
http://www.trib.com/articles/2009/01/08/news/casper/3536a2a06d3640118725753900086100.txt
Not a happy ending.
you escaped one night and went out to tokoyo massage ? .. that explains why you were so tired the next day even though I fed you copious amounts of cialis ! .. you cheeky monkey !
SO, Mac and Cheese rules. Very true.
hahahaha
oh--I'm sorry--it must have been embarrassing to have been caught on premises Dave...
this conservative woman is off to work now .. take that tree huggers !
mac and cheese is on the menu for tonight sarcky ... don't feed any to the monkey as he tends to throw it back at you ..
Monkeys don't do cheese well, Sarcky. Fair warning.
this conservative woman is off to work now .. take that tree huggers !
mac and cheese is on the menu for tonight sarcky ... don't feed any to the monkey as he tends to throw it back at you ..
have fun at work alex....
and no worries--I don't share my mac and cheese--the trough was for me only.
Yes it was embarassin being caught on the premises but not near as embarassing for my customer.
Isn't that right Tim
I love you long time Tim.
Yes, that's true.
Sorry about the syphilis, buddy. Damn that Rico Suave'.
Tim, you act like that's the first time anyone has ever apologised for syphillis.
Come on!
Hey whatever happened to your final warning?
First time to you, or first time ever?
Dave, it's so good to have you back in full swing...(wait, does that make it sound like you stopped by alex's to visit the shenanigans the other night? why, yes it does!)
2009 has been good to us folks--Prez Dave is alive and well!
Final warning as in last time he'd mention it? Then he'd be a smooth talking, getting all the ladies like Thomas kind of guy?
The story I keep waiting to hear: Interest rates are dropping to record lows as scared investors park their cash in Treasury bonds and insured CD's. At some point, this is going to cause those nasty Adjustable Rate Mortgages to start resetting in the borrower's favor.
And them what have good credit are refinancing.
Not sure what happened. Guess I need to arm my cyber-guard.
Oh great, fast food is now in, as I have adjusted down from the drive-through to the crock pot.
All that money I'm saving by working at home? Social Security wants it all. Then I find out both the county I moved from and the county I moved to want an occupational tax on my income. They're going to fight over who gets it for 2008.
PBR > MHL
Kevin,
I have an ARM loan adjusting this May, with the rate evaluation happening in March. If it were to adjust today, I would drop from a 6% rate to a 4.25% rate ... locked for the next 3 years. That would reduce my payment by hundreds every month. We'll see what happens ...
Miss C--feeding 9 people is still cheaper with a crock pot...just because something is fashionable doesn't mean it's cheap!!!
Can't they split the occupational tax by months you lived where? I have to do that with my state taxes on income earned in different locales...
(yep, when Tokyo Massage closed I had to relocate to Saigon Massage...)
Sal - It just may be but I can't find PBR near me so the verdicts out. I'll have to give it a try next time I hit up a beer distributor.
Say what? No PBR? You guys got liquor stores in EnWhy or what? What about all those Williamsburg hipsters I been hearin about?
Anyway, really poor people drink Schaffer.
You can't find PBR near you?! Correct me if I'm wrong, but you live in New York--one of the biggest cities in the world--and there is no PBR? The shit is dirt cheep and has some flavor for a cheap pale. In Amherst (of UMass-Amherst flavor) you can find 30s of the stuff for 12-13 bucks (keystone light--which is inebriating water at the core--clocks in at 11-12).
And the REALLY poor people drink 40s of the malt. OE and 211 for me.
i drin col 45 wrks evrtim
somtim i drin tunderbrd win an ol milwaki
mmmmmmmmm gud shit
Looks like it's working now as well.
I LOVE you guys.
I am so glad I FINALLY have some friends :)
roflmao
Thomas!!!
I've missed you around here, friend!
I thought you were man enough to drink everclear, or home distilled whiskey...
i drin som har liker lik voka mix wit bir
bu tha shit mak mi sik
i dirnk canadene mis wonse
tha shi spensv tho
julene meter mus be fagg cuz hi sa hi lov gis
hahahahaha
julene meter liks bals in hi moth
yuk
hahahahahahaha
homomomomomo
hahaha
Boy, watching Julian and Thomas go at it is like being a Cubs fan at an all New York World Series: I know that I will see some great stuff, but I really don't know who to root for and I couldn't really give a shit who wins.
Guess I'll root for a scoreless tie, as per usual.
Nah, I'll man up and choose a side ... I think Allie Marie will take this one over Julianne with an early takedown.
Tommy, It's been a long time. How are you pal?
Go easy on Julian he is new here and really funny and really nice, I think you both probably have a lot in common.
He's a ladies man just like you.
I thought you were never coming back?
From this thread I guess I'm going to invest in the Milwaukee Brewing Co and maybe Trojan. (If planned parenthood was for profit I'd put some money in them too. Figure they gotta be doing good business these days...)
Is this the first time Thomas has shown up since he was outed as Al Queda btw?
Tim, I resent either one being compared to a NY team....
and the term for "an all New York world series" is much easier to type..."subway series"--but you knew that and were just being kind to our visitors from abroad...
(Leo doesn't count--he knows more about the USA than half the Americans I know--I think he's really a well educated American who went to Brazil to check out the ladies and never returned)
i nevr com bak cus assl jmbo
i onli combak cus hi ded an nevr com bak
assl jibo i hop hi go to hel
sunabich i hat him
o ya julen fune hi rill assl
julen i ride som hsi shit it dumshit
onle lade hi git go
baaaaaaaaaaaaaa baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
I just realized that reading Thomas' posts is like using a Ouija board...some people get it, some people don't; someone is behind the scenes making it happen, and it's just plain amusing....
Thomas and Julian are probably one in the same.
I'm too lazy for a forum post today, so who would win in a fight, Thomas or Julian??
Sal, there are bars that carry it and bigger convenience stores but none by me. I'm sure if I really looked, i'd find pbr in droves.
Never 40s for me. If it comes to that, i'm drinking soda.
If I didn't have to throw down some of that "glassed glazer" I wouldn't, but the college budget demands such actions.
"No more fat police." There will be more fat police, unfortunately they will be police officers who are overweight, like the rest of the country.
"Gas prices are down to below $2 a gallon." I'm glad too, now when I send money to the Saudi Arabians, I'm getting more bang for my buck!
"no more interferring in other people's choices" Unless they're evil gays who want to get married, or potheads who terrorize our nation by getting munchies, I guess.
Some companies have been furloughing people and giving them cooler titles in lieu of raises. So, to put a positive spin on this, you aren't a semi-employed stooge, you're the VP of TPS reports enjoying an unplanned vacation! There you go. Sounds much nicer.
I have been listening at the door ALL night.
NOW I know who my friends are.
Dave - you can be my wingman ANY time.
Thomas is a window licker.
ROFL
LOVE you guys (apart from Thomas)
I hate Thomas as MUCH as I hate owls.
julin yo shudnt cal yor moma a windo
hahahahahahahaha
yo rite i gess i windo likr
hahahahahahahahahah
you fellas play nice 'fore i have to drop the hammer on one of ya.
i pla nis ftre i giv mi hamr to yor moma
o sherpabo moma
mmmmmmmmmmm
shi got hare bak
yuk
Love ya tommy. My mommas 62 years old and lives in a nursing home. she'd love the attention.
seriously though tommy boy. Glad ta have you back.
I'm sorry Julian, but in this fight between you and Thomas I have to root for our Tommy Boy.
Nothing against you buddy, but Thomas have been around for a while and according to things he say, he can be my father... My lost father I have been searching for so long. Can you imagine that??? So I have to stand with him.
Plus, his 80's mullet and the sex-abuser-70's-pornstar mustache just add to his charisma.
Sarcky, thanks for taking me in such consideration.