Merrill Lynch reported a $4.7 billion loss last quarter. IndyMac was seized by federal regulators. The U.S. government is bailing out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But this isn’t the worst news. No, this doesn’t even register when viewed in light of the real bad news. The Coca-Cola Company’s second quarter net income fell 23%! I may have to make a very large purchase of Diet Coke to bail them out. I assure you this fall in their profit was certainly not because of me. I keep them in business!

I’m not sure how to weigh in on the current state of the economy. I’m not an economist, but I’ve been reading quite a bit and I’m pretty firmly in the pro-globalization column. If the crisis in the United States means than more of our companies are owned by foreign companies, then some good may have come out of this ordeal. In the meantime, I suppose I’ll just have to put my trust in the United States Department of Treasury, of all places.

In the meantime, I hope your money is safe! If they’re not, I encourage you to make yourself feel better by pouring yourself a Diet Coke. It’ll make you feel better!

There is a light at the end of the tunnel.  My exams are nearly over, then I will be able to write again while juggling several graduation parties.  These past few weeks are making me think I need a scheduler.  For those concerned, by Diet Coke intake is at or below 4 cans per day.  Another announcement:  I’m shopping for somebody to do a custom Wordpress theme.  If you know of anybody that does a good job, e-mail me or leave a comment.

As I study for exams like science or math, it often helps me to have a TV show or movie playing in the background.  This year, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip has been satisfying my need so I’ve included an episode below.  The first embed is the pilot episode, but I think the second episode (in the second embed) is much better.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip: Pilot

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip: The Cold Open

My school’s summer vacation is just a few weeks away, but my blog vacation is starting now. But it’s not a real vacation. It’s a “vacation.”

Anybody who has ever been in school at almost any level knows that finals are the storm before the calm. A few weeks of intense studying, a few days of intense testing, and then nothing. Perhaps a few parties or graduation, but nothing that even approaches the intensity of days past.

I take my exams seriously. In fact, I’m willing to say that I take them too seriously, but I’m certainly not changing any time soon. This weekend was a crazy studying weekend (I think I should just have a truck full of index cards come to my house) and it will continue through the week. Next weekend is Memorial Day weekend and the nation will be having barbeques and setting off fireworks (or not, see here).  I, on the other hand, will be studying.

My crazy, irrational thinking is preventing me from doing anything other than studying.  Every time I start writing a blog post, I stop because I think it is an unconscionable waste of time to not be studying.  Therefore, I’m taking a little vacation.  Roughly two weeks.  But it’s not a real vacation because I will still be posting, but the posts will be less frequent and not of the depth that some have come to expect.  It’s not a vacation from writing, but it will probably turn out to be a vacation from writing well because the writing will have to fit into my odd breaks or when I have free time but can’t bring myself to study.

I ask you to stick with me during this time of flash cards, color coded study sheets, number two pencils, and most importantly, a lot of Diet Coke.

After a long interval between episodes, I’m back with VFAF 5. Mark Temple joins me on this episode on a trial basis because podcasts with one person just seem awkward to me. We did this episode Diggnation style, but it’s audio, we’re drinking Diet Coke instead of beer, and we cut down on the profanity. I should also mention that if you ever need someone to bake cookies, don’t ask Mark or me. We burned cookies out of a package. Twice. I claim partial responsibility, but since I’m the one writing this post, I will say that it was mostly Mark’s fault.

I was inspired to do an episode this way by the Neal Show. Neal says he was inspired by me, but then I’m inspired by him, so we’re in an endless loop of inspiration now. So I didn’t cut out awkward pauses or mistakes; everything’s in there. Let me know what you think.

This episode is about sports in schools. I’ve noticed that my school spends a ton on sports. We have a huge athletic center, a large sports staff, most of whom do very little at all, and there’s a ton of waste. My position is that it’s important to make sure that students are physically as well as mentally fit, but sports should take a back seat. Mark isn’t so sure. He cites this study as a reason for keeping sports as a large part of school life.

Ultimately, we should be spending more money on academics than on sports. If sports enhances academics, then we should be supporting sports to the extent that it is assisting academics, but in an academic environment, sports should not be a focal point. I doubt my idea is going to be wildly popular, but I think that my school should cut the athletics budget in half and use it for academic purposes.

Thanks to Neal Campbell and Cali Lewis for providing a Snowflake USB microphone. The audio quality in this episode is certainly improved and I’m still experimenting with it to make the quality even better.

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Audio (4.5 MB)