Today I watched an older episode of the PBS show Frontline about the stock market crash of 1929. Considering recent events in our economy, it was interesting to see the parallels of what happened 80 years ago compared to what happened just a year or so ago. In both eras, there were signs of an impending crash, and many folks managed to save themselves and their careers by acting early enough to avoid the catastrophe. Others didn’t. And in both times, the effects reached far beyond a few fat cats on Wall Street, mostly hitting average workers.
It was extremely insightful, and now I want to look for more episodes in the series that focus on the current crisis. Well done, public broadcasting!
My sister is thinking of opening an online shop, because she’s an excellent crafty sewer. She’s noticed that since the recession, people have been more likely to stay at home and cook, so she’s going to focus on oven mitts, aprons, potholders, hot pads, that sort of thing. I think it’s a great idea.
It got me thinking about other services that I’m more likely to see during these tough economic times – credit repair service, mortgage refinancing, coupon services, enhance your job skills classes, to name just a few. If there are any ways to help folks through these tough times, and help them work through them, all the better.
I love to shop on etsy.com – it’s filled with tons of amazing handmade items, from the artistic to the practical and everything in between.
But until this week, I never really entered the forums. They’re fascinating! Today I read about different ways folks can process credit cards at craft shows. I never even thought about that before! I don’t think many of them had fancy portable devices like an epson receipt printer, but a lot of them had subscriptions to credit card processing businesses. And the part I found fascinating was that people tend to spend more money when they can use their credit cards. I always suspected that to be true, but to see it proven by someone’s experience was gratifying.
Anyway – Etsy! Great for shopping and learning. Check it out.
Ever have one of those weeks, when you’re starting to think you chose the wrong career path, and then you go to Subway for lunch? And you look at the napkin, and it says that you, too, could start a Subway franchise? And you think, hey, I could make sandwiches all day, that might be something to look into!
But then you realize that you have absolutely no restaurant experience, and you’d probably cut yourself slicing the bread, and you wouldn’t know how much sweet onion sauce to order. So you finish eating your sandwich, and wipe your face with your napkin, and head back to work.
Ever have one of those weeks? Yeah, me too.
OK, last post for now about our diet. Someone online via Twitter asked me if I ever buy diet pills when I’m trying to lose weight. I don’t actually, because I’m on a budget. Walking and jogging is free, as long as you can find a decent pair of sneakers.
Another thing I’m trying to do at home (for free!) are just basic calisthenics – jumping jacks, sit ups, push ups, those sorts of things. If I can do them in a circuit, I can get a pretty good workout.
But still, I can’t wait until I can start my walks again! They’ll always be my favorite free exercise.
I think I mentioned yesterday that my husband and I are trying to watch what we eat. We’re also trying to get more exercise, which has been hard this winter. It was too cold to go outside and walk (my preferred exercise) and we don’t own any indoor fitness equipment.
But the days are starting to get longer, which means that it may actually start getting warmer, soon, too. I can’t wait. I have a goal to run a 5k race this year, so I have to get going in order to be in shape enough to do that. Come on, spring!
Or, really, through the mail slot on our door. Because we don’t have a mailbox anymore. But that’s not the point.
It’s amazing to me how much mail we get. And how important most of it is. Some of it I can ignore, like the dozens of pizza coupons that seem to arrive each week (we’re trying to watch our diets). Some of it is important, like the insurance marketing materials that remind us to pay our premiums on time. But almost all of it requires some sort of immediate attention.
Which is why I’ll never understand when people tell me that they can go for weeks without checking or opening their mail – a woman I used to work with did this. It boggles my mind. Maybe it’s my curious nature, maybe it’s my anxiety, but the thought of having weeks’ or months’ worth of mail just sitting there, waiting to be opened, just blows my mind.
I just ate the best quesadilla, like, ever. It was the perfect size, the chicken was just right, the peppers and onions were in perfect balance sith the amount of cheese… oh it was so good. I ate the whole thing, even though I should have stopped about half way through. So now, I’m sitting on the couch, completely stuffed and uncomfortable and oy. Not my best moment. Which is why I’ll be googling “weight loss products” in the next few minutes. Yowza.
I’m helping a friend of mine search for a job. It’s tough, because the economy is so bad, and there has been a lot of news about a large company in town laying of around 1000 workers (I know!). I’ve been helping by looking at the major job search outlets, but I’ve only found jobs that he’s not qualified for, or doesn’t know anything about, like phosphacore
sales rep, high level IT guru, or anything in the medical field.
It’s rough out there, folks. It’s making me think that I should constantly be taking classes to bulk up my resume. Because even though I have a job right now, after hearing about those layoffs, you just don’t know what’s going to happen.
I had a weekend this weekend where I feel like I got a lot accomplished, but like I didn’t really get anywhere. I ended up doing a lot of chores that never seem to get “finished.” Like laundry. Or vacuuming. Sure, you get them done for the moment, but whammo – you have to do them again next week. Or sooner, if you’re having a particularly bad week.
It was a weekend where I felt like I was running on one of life’s ellipticals or treadmills – expending a lot of energy, but not really going anywhere.
