2001/09/21

If you've watched the Dow or read the news, you know the American economy isn't doing so well right now.

Part of the problem is people aren't spending money so much, aren't buying things or going out to eat or going to the movies.

If you can afford it, you can help by spending some money. And maybe you deserve a little fun?

If you go out to eat, then your waiter or waitress gets a tip they wouldn't have otherwise, and then maybe that helps them. Know what I mean?

So here's a list of ways to spend money. Hopefully most of them are fun.

Go out to eat
Go to the movies
Buy extra RAM (it's so cheap right now)
Get a pizza delivered (and tip the delivery person extra)
Buy a book, with photos, about your favorite animal
Subscribe to the Sunday New York Times
Buy a DVD player
Adopt a cat or a dog
Buy a new set of dishes
Buy produce and jewelry at your local farmer's market
Set up an etrade account and buy stocks while they're cheap
Buy a (faux) sharkskin belt
Buy a new guitar
Take a mini-road-trip this weekend
Get your tires rotated
Pay for all those shareware apps you're using
Buy a new mouse (Mac users -- get a two-button mouse)
Buy a six-pack of blank VCR tapes
Buy a six-pack of expensive root beer
Upgrade to OS X 10.1 (once it's out)
Buy fancy colored soaps
Buy a new clock for your kitchen
Buy some paint and re-paint the bathroom
Hire someone to clean your house or mow your lawn
Get a new coffee maker or espresso maker
Donate money to further development of your favorite open source app
Buy an American flag
Buy candles and candle-holders
Prepare for next summer: buy citronella candles
Buy a digital camera
Buy a crock pot and make pot roast
Get some new indoor plants from the nursery
Buy all the makings for pizza and make your own pizza
Take a course in a foreign language
Go to the local gym
Get new sandals
Buy a basket of apples
Buy a color pda
Get a pair of driving gloves
Register OmniWeb
Buy a copy of the Koran
Get some fancy expensive tea
Donate to the Red Cross, again
Buy some comic books
Go get a latte, today
Give extra money to your church, synagogue, mosque or other place of worship
Get a massage
Get a pedicure
Get your hardwood floors refinished
Buy a hat
Go to a yoga class
Buy a new reclining easy chair
Go on ebay and buy an old Atari game system
Join the Book-of-the-Month club

This morning I heard from an old and dear friend of mine who saw my name at classmates.com. What a great way to start the day.

Thank you Internet.

I'm walking around like the hunchback of Notre Dame since my kitten discovered it's nice to sleep on the back of my neck. The things we do for love!

There are people, Americans, on the Web and elsewhere, who stop just barely short of saying that we deserve what happened to us.

This makes me so heartsick.

I'm not talking just about Jerry Falwell -- some are liberals, some are conservatives, some are in the middle.

What happened to these people's hearts and minds that they'd be like this?

I'm not sure I want to know. To understand something like that is to understand a darkness that I don't want to get to know too well.