not a shockah...

i must confess, surprised i wasn't when i reached for the soy milk this morning and noticed the US economy is featured as this month's carton-side missing person:



i would put a call in to crimestoppers with a tip on a recent sighting (US economy, last seen drinking mouthwash and clipping coupons at the JFK t station), but all i had left for the AIG bonus fund were my rollover minutes, now rendering me incommunicado.

it does all kinda makes sense: last week i had to issue an amber alert for the other half of my 401k. maybe if we leave a little plate of TARP by the front door she'll find her way back home...

seriously, what a mess. i love how the republicans continue their praisethelordgaysarebad spendnotchickensquawk when it was all their 'let's-fight-two-wars-with-no-money-down-no-payments-for-a-year' economic strip-mining that landed us in this financialshitstorm. everything else? healthcare? education? haphazard lending? let's just pretend this is a 1984 caldor's and put it all on layaway.

while it is terrifying for a million different reasons, there is one potential good thing that can come out of all of this. i wholeheartedly believe this country needed a reality check on the topic of unconscious consumption. and perhaps given the dramatic turn of events (namely the fact the economy is running around with no pants on) people will actually examine their daily lives and start paying attention to some of the unsustainable wastefulness that has led to double-wide SUV's full of diabetic americans on their way to a bigboxstripmall for another 25lb bag of frozen mozzarella cheese sticks. not that i have anything against fried cheese. i believe 'moderation' is the word i'm looking for.

while j.mo and i already live pretty responsibly, the current climate got us thinking there was more we could do- we swapped our expensive cable tv and internet for slower & cheaper options, cutting our monthly bill in half. not exactly a big sacrifice, but still financially helpful in leaner times.

larger in scale and savings, we're also selling our car. paying almost $600 a month for a car payment, insurance, and gas when more often than not, the only driving we do is to the grocery store just doesn't seem all that smaht anymore. we both love our car, especially j.mo-carboy. but i think there is a difference between loving the *idea* of having a car and actually needing one. we ride the T to work and usually take the T for non-work-related happenings too. once it's sold, we'll be zipcar-ing for the one or two trips a week that require wheels. otherwise it's all about the MBTA. better for the budget, better for the environment. it just makes sense. it will be an adjustment, but i think it will work just fine.

so i'm hoping that with this post i might get back to regular blogging. i miss it. and while facebook is fun, fast, and friend-ful, it's not nearly the same as a good ol' fashioned blog post. i've been neglectful of blogging duties and wonder if anyone even bothers to check for updates anymore?