It's A Major Award!

I won something! I seriously won something! I never win anything!

In what I normally consider a Crappy Team Meeting, I was called up to the front of the class and bestowed with a Performance and Team Award "in recognition of [my] exceptional and on-going efforts to ensure the Program is seen as the model for high-quality products and timely delivery." The neat thing is, if I do my job right, my efforts are supposed to be invisible to the client, so I never expect recognition, which is why it's exciting to me now.

I rule!

I also received a teeny gold plastic mini-trophy and cold, hard American Express Gift Cheques.

This is a red letter day!

Musings on Politics and the Economy

I know I've been sparse in my current events-related postings of late. It's partially because I've been a bit self-absorbed with my moods and my interpersonal relationships. And it's mostly due to the fact that the news and current events have been bad, worse, and worst. So bad, in fact, that I don't even feel the need to do a quick overview because seriously, pick a topic, here's the summary: BAD. I don't even want to educate myself on how bad, or to what extent, or the on the details of the actions we're chancing to fix the situation because it is just... oppressive. After two or three paragraphs of negativity, you lose the energy to keep reading. Really, it makes me sad.

This is the topic on which I found myself musing last night as I tried to fall asleep after going to bed an hour early. (Thanks daylight time switch!)

The economy sucks and I'm not positive that the moves we're making now to rectify the situation are the right ones. But is that because they're not the right ones or is it because I know jack about economics?

Is it because my politics are changing or is it because I'm surrounded largely by people with conservative opinions and am being bombarded with their vitriolic rebukes of the present path and assignments of blame? Would I feel better about it if similarly vocal liberals were around me to balance the equation? Are liberals happy (or at least, secure) in the present path? Do they believe that these moves will eventually be our saving grace, given the length of time economies tend to require in order to move? Or do they have their doubts too?

Are we even qualified to make determinations about it? According to the news media, the economy is in its worst state since the 1982 recession. Do you remember the 1982 recession? I don't. In fact, in 1982, I didn't even know what money WAS. (Ah, to go back!) What moves did we use to get out of that? And considering the fallout over the ensuing 27 years, do we even want to repeat those moves? Do we need a whole new choreography? How do we know we're making the right decisions and taking the right actions?

It seems to me that politics and economics consist largely of trial-and-error actions. Is that any way to run a country? On the other hand, what choice do we really have?