"Look at that," Megan said, nodding towards the TV. "Those used to be for little brown children."
I looked up from my laptop to see the end of a commercial soliciting donations for an aid organization--one that works entirely within the United States, providing food and aid for to Americans.
This was yet another ominous first for me. Living in the richest nation on the planet, I never suspected for a moment I'd see commercials entreating me to "Feed the Virginians... before it's too late." That's not a direct quote--I didn't see the entire ad--but it was disquieting nonetheless.
It's been nearly a month since my last post, mostly because there have been glimmers of hope on the horizon. The Dow is over 8,000 today, and I got a job three weeks ago.
It pays significantly less than my last job and (at the moment) has zero benefits. I'm going to start looking for another job in the near future. At the moment, I'm somewhat pleased to be off of unemployment and slowly paying up the taxes I accrued. Since taxes aren't automatically deducted from unemployment payments, it's easy to rack up significant taxes in a hurry.
As for the "somewhat pleased" bit--the pay at my new job is insultingly low. The position is good for my career since I'm a manager, but I was making more money sitting on my ass.
A post on The Consumerist today offered a simple solution to reduce monthly bills--ask. So many consumers are dropping services that providers are willing to make a deal to keep a client.
With nothing to lose, I called Charter Cable and went straight to the disconnection department. I had no intention of dropping service, but they would have the best deals available to offer customers. A few minutes later, I'd dropped my bill by $20 a month with no reduction in service. I tried AT&T as well. They were willing to drop my bill by $10 a month, but I would have lost a lot of minutes from my plan. It wasn't worth the tradeoff.
Megan and I tried to go to brew pub on the west side of town on Sunday to get a beer and some food. Every time we've gone in, it's been half-full. This time, it was out of business.
