mgedwards – Page 328

Power Outage

A freakish storm came through here last night, knocking out power in our area. It also dropped the temperature down to about 14 degrees F. The wind was harsh, and the windows in our apartment are ill-fitted to stop the cold from seeping in. The power went off temporarily at about 10 p.m. and then came back on for about an hour before going off again for another 10 hours. Before the power went off I found a battery-powered clock my sister had given me for my birthday, and I set it up so that it would wake me up just in case the power failed again (which it did). I didn’t know whether the power would fail again, but sure enough this morning we had no power. The apartment hall lights and elevators were working, backed up by a backup power generator. However, the rest of the building was dark and cold.

I still went to work today. I decided to leave our car with my wife in case she needed to evacuate the family to a warmer place–like a nearby mall. Thus I had to use mass transportation to get to work. I caught the apartment shuttle to the Metro station, then took the Metro to another shuttle that then took me to work. Easy enough, but unfortunately a train had stalled on the Blue/Yellow line, causing significant delays. I was absolutely freezing waiting on the platform for the train to arrive. 14 degrees isn’t extremely cold, but after Saturday’s balmy weather it was a shock to my system. Everyone waited in huddled masses for the train, and once it arrived we crammed into it Tokyo-style. I’ve never been on such a crowded Metro train before. I held my breath and finally made it to my destination, catching the shuttle to work. After that I was fine until the power went off at work. I thought, “Oh no, here we go again!” Fortunately, the power came back on about an hour later.

My wife picked me up after work, and we ran Christmas errands. I missed that car! We shopped for presents, delivered a Christmas gift to someone, and waited an hour at the post office to mail our Christmas presents to loved ones. Christmas is the one time of the year when everyone waits at the post office in pressure-cooker fashion and yet manages to be polite and cordial to one another. Waiting at the post office to mail packages made me wonder whether e-tailing would really do away with in-store shopping. I talked to a store clerk last weekend who mentioned that Christmas sales were down because more people were shopping online. I still saw a lot of people shopping for Christmas the old fashioned way. As for me, I bought one gift online this Christmas, but for the most part I went the traditional route and went to the mall and factory outlet stores. I limited my gift card purchases to two. It just hasn’t been a good year this year for me to exercise creativity (too busy).

D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams and Council Chair Linda Cropp met today to discuss stadium financing options for the Washington National baseball club. It sounds promising; hopefully they can broker a deal before Christmas that will bring the club to Washington, D.C. The next time I return to D.C. I hope to watch baseball in their new ballpark.

12 Days in Hanguk

As promised, here is the Korean song I wrote. Enjoy!

12 Days in 한국

Sung to the tune “The 12 Days of Christmas”

On the 1st day in 한국,

My 선배 gave to me,

A jar of 배추김치.

On the 2nd day in 한국,

My 선배 gave to me,

Two 핸드폰,

And a jar of 배추김치.

On the 3rd day in 한국,

My 선배 gave to me,

Three 한복,

Two 핸드폰,

And a jar of 배추김치.

On the 4th day in 한국,
My 선배 gave to me,

Four 젓가락,

Three 한복,

Two 핸드폰,

And a jar of 배추김치.

On the 5th day in 한국,

My 선배 gave to me,

A 표 to 제주도!

Four 젓가락,

Three 한복,

Two 핸드폰,

And a jar of 배추김치.

On the 6th day in 한국,

My 선배 gave to me,

Six bags of 홍차,

A 표 to 제주도!

Four 젓가락,

Three 한복,

Two 핸드폰,

And a jar of 배추김치.

On the 7th day in 한국,

My 선배 gave to me,

Seven 서울지도,

Six bags of 홍차,

A 표 to 제주도!

Four 젓가락,

Three 한복,

Two 핸드폰,

And a jar of 배추김치.

On the 8th day in 한국,

My 선배 gave to me,

Eight 한국드라마,

Seven 태극기,

Six bags of 홍차,

A 표 to 제주도!

Four 젓가락,

Three 한복,

Two 핸드폰,

And a jar of 배추김치.

On the 9th day in 한국,

My 선배 gave to me,

Nine 신용카드,

Eight 한국드라마,

Seven 태극기,

Six bags of 홍차,

A 표 to 제주도!

Four 젓가락,

Three 한복,

Two 핸드폰,

And a jar of 배추김치.

On the 10th day in 한국,

My 선배 gave to me,

Ten rounds of 노래!

Nine 신용카드,

Eight 한국드라마,

Seven 태극기,

Six bags of 홍차,

A 표 to 제주도!

Four 젓가락,

Three 한복,

Two 핸드폰,

And a jar of 배추김치.

On 11th day in 한국,

My 선배 gave to me,

Eleven 태권도판,

Ten rounds of 노래!

Nine 신용카드,

Eight 한국드라마,

Seven 태극기,

Six bags of 홍차,

A 표 to 제주도!

Four 젓가락,

Three 한복,

Two 핸드폰,

And a jar of 배추김치.

On the 12th day in 한국,

My 선배 gave to me,

Twelve 전자제품,

Eleven 태권도판,

Ten rounds of 노래!

Nine 신용카드,

Eight 한국드라마,

Seven 태극기,

Six bags of 홍차,

A 표 to 제주도!

Four 젓가락,

Three 한복,

Two 핸드폰,

And a jar of 배추김치.

Economic Priorities

This week President Bush focused on social security and overhauling the tax code during a two-day economic conference at the White House. Unless changes are made, the Social Security Trust Fund that funds social security could run out of money by the year 2042. Although 2042 seems so far away, 38 years isn’t that far into the future. I personally am not counting on social security to be there for me and my spouse when I retire. I will have other sources of income that will support me and my spouse after I retire. It’s supposed to be a social safety net, but it is a shaky one for those of us whose retirement is far down into the future. The fact that the president is even broaching such a hot-button issue as social security is gutsy. The system does need to be changed so that it remains solvent after the year 2042. Nevertheless, at present I believe other domestic economic concerns are more pressing and need to receive higher priority than social security or tax code reform. They should be prioritized as follows:

Reduce the federal budget deficit. President Bush has made a pledge to reduce the current account deficit by 50%. He needs to make this his top economic priority. Over-reliance on foreign investors to buy U.S. debt is dangerous.
Bring down the trade deficit. The president needs to leverage America’s strengths and fight battles for the country in forums such as the WTO to reduce the nation’s trade deficit. This is not a problem he created; he inherited it from his father and President Clinton. He needs to come up with a solid plan for narrowing the trade gap beyond currency devaluation.
Focus on energy self-sufficiency. It is in the interest of the U.S. to decrease its dependence on foreign oil. The president needs to evaluate all options ranging from conservation to fuel cells to domestic drilling to minimize energy consumption and maximize domestic production. Purchasing foreign oil contributes to both #1 and #2 above.
Promote job creation. The president needs to focus on creating good domestic jobs. Foreign outsourcing and productivity have put pressure on job creation, leading to fewer good, long-lasting domestic jobs. I add “long-lasting” because job creation must focus on creating domestic jobs that can withstand an economic downturn. Job creation during the second Clinton administration was impressive, but these jobs did not survive the dot.com bust. Those types of jobs are not what the economy needs. Jobs that can be easily outsourced such as traditional manufacturing jobs are not what the economy needs. Good jobs with staying power need to be created in fields the U.S. dominate, including technology, services, and biotechnology.

These economic issues should receive highest priority during the second Bush administration. Focusing on social security and tax code reform are fine as long as these basic priorities are first addressed.