Where in the World?

     We had a guest speaker the other day in my Asset Management class. He is a big time investor who has made a name for himself in commercial real estate and equities. His purpose for visiting the class was to inform us of some of the practices that are used by professionals in the asset management industry. Before we got too far into the discussion, he read to us a letter that he wrote to the President of the United State, Barrak Obama. This letter received no response and was very critical of the way that the economy was being handled.
     We were then told by the speaker that Obamacare raised costs on business by over 5% and as a result there would be lots of people who would be fired or not hired in the first place. America, apparently had lost her glory. People are no longer willing to work for honest wages, they expect hand-outs and government subsidies, and when they are not taken care of, they through a fit. Taxes are so high now in this country that jobs and businesses are moving overseas.
     At this point in the conversation, I raised my hand and asked a simple question: "If things are so bad here in the U.S. where in the world do you suggest we go to become wealthy?" His response was short and somewhat disappointing. There is no better place than here and now. Well, that stinks.

A Week in Thailand #1

I flew into Bangkok feeling a bit under the weather. I don't know if it was something I picked up from China or if it was just from over-doing it during my summer travels. After getting through customs and standing on my feet waiting for at least an hour for a taxi it took all I had to tell the driver where my hotel was before I passed out in the back seat. By the time I got to the hotel I had a terrible fever and could barely lift my green backpack which contained all the material possessions I had used for the past several months. The hotel bellman promptly took my luggage to the room I had reserved just an hour before arriving. I was originally supposed to stay in a hostel, as was my daily routine, but because I was feeling so poor I decided it would be smart to pay hotel prices and get some rest without interruption. My room was quite inviting. There was a king size bed, a desk that I could put my laptop on and a large TV that required you to pay money to watch any channel that had English. The first thing I did when I got into the room was get undressed for a shower. I felt that a hot shower would help curb the chills I was having despite being in a tropical climate in Southeast Asia right in the middle of summer. I was wrong and also very surprised to find out that four star hotels in Thailand do not have hot water as advertised.  That night, with the aide of plenty of pain mediation I got over ten hours of sleep. This was quite an achievement considering I had averaged about four to five hours for the past several weeks.

Goodbye Facebook

I recently decided to delete my Facebook account. This seemingly erratic decision was actually based on several deliberate thought processes. First of all, I felt that it was time to turn a page in my life. I am now in my mid twenties and I do not feel the need to engage in activities that high school girls are famously obsessed with. I do not wish to be the subject of Facebook stalking, nor do I intend on looking for dates by scrolling through my friends list.  Cyber stalking just doesn’t have the same appeal to me that it does to most hormone crazy adolescents.  A second reason for deleting several years of status updates, friend requests, pictures, and other random stuff I wish was never associated with my name in the first place is the fact that I like to be different. It seems like everyone and their grandmother has an iPhone. It was when I realized this that I decided to buy the new Windows Phone. The fact that both my parents, many of the members of my old church, almost all of my high school friends, and pretty much everyone I see on a day-to-day basis have Facebook accounts may have caused me to take a second look at what my profile actually portrays about me. I decided that I didn’t necessarily like the pressure of maintaining an online identity. The time had come to do exactly the opposite of what everyone else was doing. I deleted it.