Life and Death

Today, I learned my Great Grandma (dad's side) passed on last night. She was in her late nineties. She resided in Cleveland; it had been a few years since I had seen her last, she had moved onto assisted living. She was very caring and a fighter. She was resilient, which kept her going until she couldn't any longer. Maybe that's where I get some of my intensity because she certainly had some. I have many great memories with her: going to the 4th of July fireworks and concert in downtown Cleveland, going to the Cleveland Public Market, riding the RAPID, Cleveland's public transit, my first ever time on public transit. There are pictures of me and her when I was little, taking walks, even playing whiffle ball. I feel bad for my dad because he only has his siblings now, all of his elders are gone.

Meanwhile, today at work we hosted the Michigan Fed Challenge. 8 high school teams pretended to be the Federal Open Market Committee and presented their thoughts on whether or not Ben Bernanke & Co. should raise the federal funds rate tomorrow. Today took me back to the days of Academic Challenge/Quiz Bowl and competing in that. It was great listening to everyone present, I was able to learn something from each presentation. That's a great part of economics, you can never really know it all and there's always something new to learn. And it's amazing how much these high schoolers knew. My first economics class was sophomore year at Miami. These high schoolers know so much more then than I did in my junior year at Miami. They were very impressive.

Barry Bonds said, "My life is in shambles. It is crazy." I feel really sorry for him. I think I will be buying the book, "Game of Shadows" when it comes out after reading the excerpt out of Sports Illustrated. This is pretty serious stuff. I have looked for the book about Lance Armstrong that was written by the two British authors accusing him of using performance-enhancing drugs, but I haven't been able to find it. I'll have to get it on Amazon or Ebay I suppose. I'd want to see what they put together.

I've had to change my way home, again. Here in Detroit, construction season is SERIOUS. They are totally reconstructing M-14, a highway which connects Detroit and Ann Arbor. Interstate 96 leaves the city heading west, joining up with I-275 the bypass for a little bit, while the highway that continues on M-14. Well, 3 lanes of traffic are now one, creating major backups, so I'm only taking 96 to Telegraph Rd., then taking that to Grand River (M-5), which is the 2nd half of my old way home.

So it's been an interesting day, g'night.