You know that part of your life when you notice everyone around you is getting married, having children or just moving on to better parts of life. It’s usually in intervals after graduating from school, high school or college. I happen to be at that part of life. Here’s why:

Nick B, the funny man of the group, is moving to California!
Kristina J, the sexy bitch, is moving to London to be with her boyfriend.
Chau N, the quiet Asian, moved to Florida with her fiancee.
Pat B, now in Colorado with her two year old.
Ryan S, Mr. Big of the dorm, just got engaged.
Brandy (Jenkins) B, high school crush, is married and just had her second child.
Jessica F, fellow animal lover, just got married and just found out had a baby.
Ginger F, ex and friend, just got married.
Jennifer F, animal lover, is married with a kid.
Lori H, just found out today is married.
Wendy L, the crazy one, just got married and is expecting.
Kelly M, college flirt, married last year and moved to Chicago.
Kelly P, dated and friends, got married earlier this year to her high school crush.
Crazy Carl, not really crazy, found out is married to his college girlfriend.
Cousin Dee, just found out yesterday is pregnant with her second child
Cousin Chat, just got married last week and is also pregnant.
Cousin Matt, only 18, his girlfriend is pregnant, and is engaged.
Cousin Christina, Matt’s sister, had her baby recently. Their mother just turned 36!
Cousin Heather, has a kid and is getting married to the father in August.
Cousin Kim, just had a baby!

There’s a lot to take in! I’m taking bets on who is next on the list. Anyone?

I’m also is a somber mood because I just finished up the softball season with both my church and company teams. The church team went 6 and 5 this year, which was very dismal for us. We were lucky to get over 500 this year, since we been over 500 for 10 years now. We were in the playoffs, but lost both games in the double elimination rounds.
We also just finished up my company softball team. Our last game was tonight. We ended our season 6 and 10, losing to the last place team in the division, which are now 2 and 14. I pitched tonight and gave up 15 runs in one inning. I’ve been hard on myself since then. I’m just glad it’s over now.

In today’s issue of The Financial Times, Professor Joseph Stiglitz, the 2001 Winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics, is pretty blunt. After discussing the details behind his thesis that “America has little to teach China about a steady economy” (the title of his Comments) he summarizes his view of China vs the US: “The US Economy is growing at a third the pace of China’s. Poverty is rising (in the US) and median household incomes are, in real terms, declining. America’s total net savings are much less than China’s. China produces far more of the engineers and scientists that are necessary to compete in the global economy than the US, while America is cutting its expenditures on basic research as it increases military spending. Meanwhile, as America’s debt continues to balloon, its president wants to make tax cuts for the richest people permanent.” If Professor Stiglitz is even partially correct, then we need to be even more cognizant of the benefits of global diversification in managing our own US-dollar based assets.

Thanks Arin and Waldo. It nice to be heard. Arin, .Net Sucks. Arin, I have had a complete change of heart from my days of MT (MusicToday) where I really loved MS. But now with the MS continually raking in the bucks (see http://money.cnn.com/2005/04/28/technology/microsoft_analysis/index.htm) from corporate IT coffers instead of directing that money to delivering next gen applications to their users, I feel differently. I think C# is cool and maybe the OS version Mono

will catch on. Flame on!! BTW, anyone reading this who is concerned that if the government feels that their home could better serve the community if it were the home of a Target see Arin’s blog and keep abreast of the situation. I think Arin’s found his calling!!

JavaEtc: Charlottesville Blogs

Since September 11th, 2001, the US has spent hundreds of billions of dollars in borrowed funds to try and secure the US mainland from further assault. The events in London last week prove that we cannot be certain of the success of such expenditures. Even with the decades of experience in dealing with the IRA, the British were powerless to detect a few disaffected jihadists in their own midst.

For the Americans and our allies, the economic costs of the US policy toward Iraq continue to mount. We have missed opportunities to turn the tide. If the US had supported the European initiatives to persuade the Iranian Government on the issue of their nuclear program, and if we had supported the building of an oil pipeline from Iran, through Pakistan, to India, we might have empowered the moderate elements of the Sunni sect. How about a Nixon China - like strategy? We could reach out to Iran by supporting their economic development programs and help drain the cesspool of likely jihadist recruits. Without such a bold approach we will be left with an ever increasing need to subjugate our economy to creditors in the Middle East and Asia, further weakening our economic security.