The Credit Crisis for Dummies

How it all went down:

The Credit Crisis for Dummies.

I wonder how long before the g'mt decides to increase the value of homes by buying up all the foreclosed houses and demolishing them.

Of course, we could sell the "excess inventory" to the Chinese. Oh, wait, that's already happening. They're forming buying clubs to buy up cheap US houses. Meet your new Chinese Overlords Landlords.

Only taking cash

Weird things afoot in our town. Last night I went through McDonald's drive-through, and they were only taking cash. Tonight we went to Wendy's (yes, yes, I know), and they were only taking cash because the CC system was down. We bailed out of there, went to the ATM, then went to Arby's because I wanted a Beef & Cheddar (mmmmmmm, beeeeeef). They weren't having any problems. L, who knows every restaurant by whether they are a Coke or Pepsi establishment pointed out that it was the Coke places that were down. Coincidence? Conspiracy?

Turns out I DO need a stinkin' health club

We joined 24 Hour Fitness and I love it! The equipment is so much better than anything I can buy for myself, and I don't have to maintain it. They have TVs on each treadmill (and other devices), with headphone jacks, and even iPod connectors.

There is the problem of sensory overload - besides the TVs on the equipment, there are overhead TVs everywhere, usually tuned to sports - even in locker rooms. On top of that, there's music blasting out at a high volume. I could do without that, since it's so loud I can hear it over whatever I'm listening to with my headphones.

They even provide hair/body wash dispensers in shower, which has private stalls. The closest I've ever come to belonging to a gym was using the county rec center, which had the open showers you might expect in a high school locker room. Or prison.

The really cool thing they have is a high-speed swimsuit spin dryer. You stuff it in and hold down the lid and it's practically dry in about a minute. No dripping wet suit soaking your gym bag on the way home.

It's not even all that expensive, considering it's less than I pay for TV every month (and that's half the reason I need the gym!). I like that they have month-to-month memberships, too, so there's no contract.

SAD trees, happy beetles in Colorado

That's Sudden Aspen Decline. Coupled with the Pine Beetle devastation, the Rocky Mountains are undergoing quite a transformation. Pretty much all of the mature lodgepole pine forests in Colorado and southern Wyoming are expected to die.

Of course, these things happen from time to time throughout history. Some of the forests in the Eastern US have gone through a few different transformations where once dominate species have died off (usually logged out) and have been replaced with other species. Up here, one might expect aspen to quickly fill in, but now with the SAD situation.... I'm sure something will fill in, although I've seen some pretty bare mountains in some of our more Western states, so we'll have to wait and see. It will take quite some time for the next generation of pines to mature.

There are efforts under way to harvest the wood before it gets rotten. Some is being ground into pellets for wood stoves, mulched for newsprint (until the newspapers all go under :) and used for lumber. The goal is to clear the dead forests before we have some huge forest fires. Given the extent of the dead trees, I think we can expect some of those fires.

Photos of the damage: Aspen - Pines

Take a look at this Google Maps image of Dillon, CO for a vivid illustration of the extent of the damage. Zoom in on the forest to the right of the town. All the brown spots are dead trees.

iPizza

$69.99 seems a lot for "null" ;~]