If ever there was a reality check ...

For those who may think that the problems with the economy are being blown out of proportion or just aren't as bad as they actually are, read this story posted on cnn.com.

What strikes me after reading this is that incidents like those described in the story (people killing themselves because of foreclosures and financial problems) could become more prevalent. Scary ... very scary.

Sign o' the times

So my commute takes me over a bridge everyday and as I make the left turn over the bridge, a gas station's sign is at eye level ... it's one of those tall, rectangular signs that electronically displays the station's prices.

I've been watching the price fall fairly steadily for the past week or so and this morning I saw this: $2.99 for regular unleaded.

How sad is it that I'm this excited that gas is "only" $2.99 a gallon?!?

Wow.

DEFCONOMY 3 ... 2 ... 1 ... ?

As I'm sure many others have been doing lately, I've been paying a lot of attention to the turmoil surrounding the U.S. economy and the president's $700 billion bailout proposal.

I don't usually watch the president when he's on TV because without fail, every time I see the man speak, I always think (even eight years later), "I can't believe this guy is our president." But, I was watching TV last night at when he came on at 9 p.m., I watched because I wanted to see what he was going to say about the disaster that is our economy.

Just when I thought I couldn't feel any worse about our current situation ... hearing that he has little support (even from within his own party) for this plan makes it all that much more depressing. As stated on many websites, in articles and by talking heads lately, Wall Street has had a party for the last decade and now the U. S. taxpayers are going to pay the price to the tune of $700 billion.

Virginia Rep. Tom Davis (no relation) said it best when he was quoted as saying that the president's plan is the worst he's ever seen but there is no other plan.

Wow ... just, wow.

Glenn Beck of CNN Nightly News wrote a piece about the plan and introduces a new phrase that, as things continue to worsen (which they likely will) could become part of the lexicon used by everyone: DEFCONOMY.

And folks, we are rapidly reaching DEFCONOMY 1, which would be the next Great Depression.

Much like DEFCON 1 (Defense Condition 1), which is the highest alert status at which the U.S. armed forces can be set, DEFCONOMY 1, according to Beck, is the step at which this country's economy is standing on the edge of the cliff with one foot in the air.

Never in my life did I ever think I'd see something like this. I remember as a kid growing up the recession of the '80s and the economic downturns of the 1990s, but I never thought I'd see the economy at the verge of collapse. I remember my grandparents talking about living through the Great Depression of the 1930s and how there was almost a fairy tale-like quality to their stories.

But it was real ... very real and here we are again. The U.S. is (supposed to be) the greatest free market economy in the world and when the stock market crashed in 1929, it started the domino effect that led to the world-wide Great Depression. And if you know your history at all, you know how the global economy recovered back then ... World War II. Nothing like a war-based economy to reverse an economic collapse.

Ye gods. Could it really come to that again? I mean, look at what has happened within the past couple of weeks ... the economy tanks and the rest of the world's free markets swoon in response. Not good ... not good.

And I don't even want to know what my 401k looks like right now. A co-worker looked up hers last week and says the value of her 401k is down 27%. Ho-lee crap.

Then I came across this ... we bought our house six years ago for $151,000. There are six houses on the street that were built by the same builder within a few years of each other (circa 1924) and they're virtually identical (Dutch colonial). The house two doors up from us (which is more updated than ours) went on the market a few months ago for ... $150K.

I keep looking at Joey and wondering what kind of world he's going to inherit and I never factored the economic future into that until now. I keep hearing how the baby boomers are going to clean out the Social Security system so that my generation will see nothing of what they contributed. If that's the case, what is Joey's generation going to face?

And not for nothing, but ... picked this up from the Doonesbury website on which is quoted part of the Republican Party platform for 2008:

"We do not support government bailouts of private institutions. Government interference in the markets exacerbates problems in the marketplace and causes the free market to take longer to correct itself."

Hillary and Palin

For those who missed it ... this is absolutely brilliant ...

Now wouldya ...

Joey has these little sponge toys that he likes to play with in the tub. They're shaped like animals and he asks me what they are and I tell him, "That's a killer whale, that's a sting ray, that's a crab ... " and then he held one up and I said, "Oh, that's a barracuda."

Well, he liked the sound of that name and kept saying it. Then the MP3 player in my head went off and I started singing Heart's "Barracuda". Needless to say, young Mr. Davis loved that and now that's the first thing he says when he gets in the tub, to which:

"Hey, Daddy!"

"Yes, Joe?"

"Now wouldya ... BARRACUDA!!!"

The 8 minute season

So much promise ... so much excitement ... so much anticipation ... and in less than 8 minutes, so much dashed.

New England Patriots starting QB Tom Brady is out with torn ACL and MCL ligaments in his left knee, an injury suffered in the first game of the 2008-2009 season.

So, most card-carrying members of Patriot Nation (including yours truly) have a lot of questions about this season. But, I've been mulling this over all week, reading everything I could get my hands on and have come to the following conclusions:

• I'm going to reserve judgment until the Pats play half their season. If they're not at least 4-4, then there's less hope for the season ... not completely lost hope, but just less hope given their schedule.
  
• Speaking of which ... from a scheduling point of view, Brady's injury couldn't have come at a better time. The Pats were widely regarded as having the easiest schedule this season (nine of their 16 opponents this year had losing records last year). So that could bode will for them this season.
  
• At the risk of being overly optimistic, my instincts are telling me that now-starting QB Matt Cassel could surprise people this season. Yup, he looked horrible in the pre-season and hasn't started a game in his professional career, but he's been under Brady's wing for the past four years, knows the Pats' offensive game inside and out and look at what he did when he was thrust into the game last week ... he was about a yard from the very back of his own end zone and floated a 50-yard pass to Randy Moss. Talk about performing well under pressure!

  There are a lot of people getting down on Cassel, but give him a chance. In 2001 when Drew Bledsoe was knocked out for the season, no one had ever heard of Tom Brady. Can lightning strike twice? Hey, anything's possible.

  One other thing ... the Patriots organization took a lot of heat this past off season about seemingly not planning for the future when they didn't draft another quarterback or make a trade to bring in a "solid" back-up for Brady. Something tells me that those in the know in the organization (head coach Bill Belichick, VP of Player Personnel Scott Pioli, et. al.) may know more about Cassel than others.
  

• And let's not forget that this game isn't about one player, it's a team effort and no team exemplifies this more than the Patriots. The Pats have what is widely regarded as the best offensive line in the NFL and one of the best defenses, so if the O-line can give Cassel enough time to read the opposing defense and make a play and the defense can hold the other team to as few points as possible ... yeah, I know, I know ... there are a lot of "if's", but without seeing a Cassel-run offense, what else can you do but speculate?
  
• And not for nothing, but ... there is, in fact, a recent precedent for coming back from an injury like this in the NFL. Cincinnati Bengals QB Carson Palmer suffered a similar injury in 2004 and came back (his rehab was even featured in a cover story in Sports illustrated because of hard he was working). At the time, it was very doubtful he would walk normally again, let alone play professional football and yet, here is back with the team.
  
• Finally, if you think about it, the Patriots have nothing to lose now. If they tank this season, detractors and fans alike will say, "Well, what did you expect?" ... if they do well and make the playoffs and (in a perfect scenario) win the Super Bowl, then Belichick can truly be called a genius because he got his team to win without its franchise player. So in my mind, this Patriots team could be the most motivated team we've ever seen. Do you really think there guys aren't going to play this season without the "nobody believes in us, nobody's giving us a chance" mantra?
  

The bottom line here is that Patriots fans just can't give up on the season until we know how the team will react and personally I don't think you can make a real judgment until the team has played a few games with Cassel at the helm.

Here's hoping they do well because it's going to be a long season without the Pats to watch. Still, it would leave my Sundays open, and I'm sure Kell would love that!

A few Joey things

It's another milestone ... Joey has started pre-school. He's all ready to go with his Thomas the Tank Engine lunch box and thus far he loves going to school. The program is actually in the high school at which Kell is a teacher, so mama drops him off and picks him up when he goes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Kell says the playground for the program is right under the window of her second-floor classroom, so it's all she can do not to watch him while he's out there.

One other thing ... Joey loves to help when Kell and I are doing anything around the house. If he's helping daddy with a project he says, "OK, Daddy ... I'll be little helper and you be big helper."

The best, though, is when we're cooking and he wants to help. Joey'll say, "I'll be little chef and you be big chef." Classic!