There are morning people, and there are night people. Morning people pop out of bed and are ready to go for the day. Night people stay up far too late, and never stop to consider what the next morning might be like. Most people are one or the other, and you know which one you are. I often wonder whether people start out their weeks the same way. Do some people start out the week ready to go, with Monday being the most productive day, and others end the week on a strong note?
I'm a morning person, and sometimes I start my week out strong, but other times, Monday is a day of mush-brain and staring at walls. The challenge is that when I start my week out strong on a Monday, I typically have a good week. When I don't, my Monday mood drifts into Tuesday, and then I have to take Tuesday morning and refocus, and by the time I do, it feels like the week is already gone. I have the same anxiety on a Saturday when it's 10 o'clock and I haven't done anything yet; I feel like I've wasted the whole day and I might as well give up. It might be a disorder.
I knew I wanted to write something to get my head going, however, and I couldn't figure out what, so I decided to pose a question to myself: what was the most profound thing that you've heard or thought over the last 24-48 hours? Unfortunately, my response to my own line of questioning was to stare off into space. Perhaps there was nothing profound that occurred. But then I considered that profound is relative. The most profound thing from the past 48 hours might not have been very profound at all, but nevertheless would still have been more profound than everything else.
So, in no particular order, some things that have occurred to me.
Laguardia Airport Sucks
My mom was in town and she flies into Laguardia when she comes because she can get super cheap plane tickets from Florida. Driving to Laguardia in late winter/early spring is like driving over an over-populated rocky Tundra, only to find that your destination has just been bombed. And being taxed along the way to boot. It costs somewhere in the 20-30 dollar range to get from my house to the airport, the roads are crowded and filled with potholes, and in all honesty, there was a significant portion of the airport that looked like it had just been bombed. Laguardia is the worst.
No one cares about education anymore
I was listening to the radio this morning and heard about a website where you can pledge money to college athletes that would incentivize them to stay in college rather than leaving college and entering the draft to go get paid. On the one hand, I think that college athletes on the Division One level are getting hosed. Those colleges are bringing in massive dollars because of their athletic programs and the students aren't getting any of it, despite the hours they are putting in. On the other hand, it used to be that the real value of getting a scholarship was the education. In other words, if you offered some value to the school (athletic ability) they gave you something of value in return (a degree). But more and more a college degree seems to be worthless and we all know it. The real education takes place a) on the job or b) post-graduate education. And all of that is essentially worthless as well if there is another way for me to make a living. If you were in college and I told you that I would give you a job right now where you would make 1 million dollars a year, would you leave college? Probably. What if the job paid 250,000/year? Or 100,000/year? The median household income in the US is around $50,000, with the average salary being around $26,000. The average college graduate ends up with something like $28,000 in student loan debt. You start putting numbers together and we have a real problem. Of course these are all random musings and I actually do think that a college degree matters, and it does, eventually, pay off in a higher salary and employment rate according to the statistics, but at the end of the day, what we really care about is making that bank and being entertained. Hence paying college athletes.
I can't afford an Apple Watch
Seriously. I watched the Keynote yesterday because I enjoy technology. The most exciting thing for me, however, was that I could now get another Apple TV for 70 bucks. I wanted to get another one anyway, and now I'll save 30 bucks. Sweet. But a watch for 400 bucks? No thanks. It looks neat and if someone gave it to me, or I got it for a birthday or something, I'd think it was pretty cool (I think). But I also think that it would be outdated in two years, because technology. And then I'd be angry because I have a 400 dollar watch that doesn't really do what I want it to do, and I'd feel like I needed to upgrade, but then I'd need to blow another 400 beans. And I'm talking about the lowest end model. Maybe I need to adjust my thinking (What's 400/24? $16...is the watch worth $16/month?) or maybe I just need to see it in action. I wish I didn't take my phone out as much as I did, and I sometimes wish I wore a watch, like when I'm sitting in a meeting and I don't want to obviously check the time. But 400 bucks. Man, that seems like a lot of money for a third thing I have to remember to charge every night (iPhone, iPad, Watch) and really seems to only give me incrementally more convenience than my phone already does. And oh yeah, did I mention that it's going to be obsolete in two years?
Prayer is good even at 6 AM
But it makes you tired. We always meet for prayer at 6 AM on Tuesdays and I always hate getting out of bed and then I'm so glad that I came but it sure is tiring.
Shoes are too expensive
I need new shoes. My podiatrist tells me they are the helmets of the feet and we shouldn't cheap out on shoes but dang, they are too expensive as well. Plus there are too many options. I walked into Sketchers the other day (not recommended by my podiatrist, BTW. Not supportive enough on the sides so your foot slides left and right, negatively impacting your plantar.) and not only are the shoes expensive but there are like 7,000 options. So now I'm not only anxious about spending the money on the shoes, but I'm concerned that when I get home I'm going to wish I bought the other pair. That's why I've essentially bought the same shoe for ten years. Which leads me to my next point...
I'm seriously considering a uniform
Steve Jobs had the black turtle neck and the jeans. I heard Mark Zuckerberg had a similar deal, wearing essentially the same thing every day. The idea is that it's one less decision that you really have to think about. You don't have to worry about buying clothes, or matching them, or what you want to wear that day, or whatever. You just have clothes and you put them on. I seriously could care less if I looked the same every day, as long as I liked the combo and it was comfortable. Picking out clothes annoys me because it takes too much energy and clothes are also too expensive. So I'm trying to decide on a uniform. Not sure what it will be yet.
The end.