Time keeps on slipping

Wrote this a bit ago, posting it now. Good background for the post I'm about to write--

The future has always seemed a pretty sweet place to me. I was always more into the imaginative aspects of it, holding giant galactic battles with lego men, plastic snakes (space snakes), and random bits of trash that I thought were cool (I had toys, but I also had a pretty sweet imagination). Recently, the future has taken on a slightly different tone, one that lacks space snakes.

First off, I recently said bye to a friend who's spending the year teaching at an Indian Reservation in South Dakota. A large portion of my friends are now heading off to do various things in the world, which is just a reminder of this being my last year at school.

Also, I'm currently reading "The World is Flat" by Thomas Friedman. I thought that it was going to be a lot of stuff that's almost outdated (the book was written ages ago in 2005) or that I already knew. Indeed, there's a fair amount of stuff that most kids know now, but there's also some stuff that just completely floored me. I had no idea about how important UPS is in the world, and didn't really get the idea of "insourcing". Apparently UPS does huge amounts of work for a large variety of companies. Friedman gives the example of repairs for Toshiba laptops. When you send in your laptop to get repaired, it is actually just picked up by UPS, mailed to the UPS hub, fixed at UPS by UPS, and then mailed back to the customer. Friedman gives numerous, similar examples.

Overall, the book is pretty good, but a little longer than it needs to be. Friedman really drives home every point with loads of examples, making for many extra pages of reading. But I am indeed enjoying it, learning new stuff like the UPS anecdote, although I'm skimming some of the more reptitive parts.

The book makes me nervous about America's future in general. I feel like our country needs something to drive us, beyond simply success. I wasn't around for the cold war, but that whole annihlation idea seemed to be a good motivator. Who knows, being from a cushy suburb and having a cushy life, maybe I don't see the strong motivations that exist for the rest of America. But I do know that there are tons of Russians, Indians, and Chinese people who could kick my ass at math, something I once thought I was pretty good at.

With all these thoughts, I decided to go out and engage in an activity that Americans are undoubtedly good at. Oh shit shopping:

• 12 cup coffee maker. That's 12 cups, baby.
• If you see massive amounts of smoke pouring out of J22 next year, Goffman probably tried to make coffee and has doomed us all.
• iPod connecter cable, because mine was stolen out of our room.
• $7 speakers, because sound quality (pronounced, as I do, "koala-tea") is expensive and I'm no longer using Argentinean play money.
• Shorts, because mine have holes
• Shirts, because my parents expect me to wear clothing
• Failed to buy a vase to make my bamboo look happy (it was in a plastic Norte Dame cup, weighed down by golf balls), but found a nice one at home. My mom has named the bamboo "Bambi". Cute.

It's nice to be back in MN. While in the checkout line, using my coupon, a lady behind me asked if I wanted to use hers. She wasn't going to use it and was just hoping it would help me out. Good to hear some nice accents, as well.

When I'm not despairing over the lack of American's (read: me) ambition, I'm hoping to have some more legal drinks at local Rochester hotspots (read: nonexistant). I did find that my favorite chicken wings in the world can be received for half off during a happy hour inside of some chain hotel across from the hospital. 5-7 pm. Alright baby, it's time for some early evening shenanigans.