Spring 2014 5 22 Thursday

66 degrees this morning, although it didn't seem as cool as 70 degrees did yesterday.  Thursday, already!  Time passes.

I read two stories this morning, one in the Wall Street Journal about how "suburbs are coming back"  and a story on the on-line USA Today that "cities are still growing at the expense of suburbs".  Since anything regarding cities and suburbs is interesting to me, I read the WSJ story earlier with great interest and then read the USA Today with equal interest and some bewilderment!  There is a logical exclamation that the USA Today was using past census date (updated) and the WSJ was probably basing the story on recent empirical  trends.  I'll need to go back to WSJ story now and read it again.

I expect that it actually depends on which City you're talking about although (if I recall correctly) some of the most progressive cities are mentioned as the areas where the suburbs are "coming back".  I'll research this a little.

Speaking of cities, I think Memphis is a city with a lot of potential to be a great city, and I think the suburbs contribute to it and hopefully will continue to grow..  The Memphis Mayor (Mayor Wharton) has displayed some courage and foresight in making Memphis much more livable and attractive, and some of the suburbs (unfortunately now excluding Lakeland, which is going backward) are also making major advances to being "livable".

One of the Memphis Grizzlies (the basketball team) mentioned Memphis was "gritty" and a "blue collar" city, or words to that effect.  That actually is probably someone true, but it also is part of the Memphis tapestry of a variety of incomes, people, housing, and urban geography that makes it a very attractive and exciting city.   I wouldn't mind living in the downtown area, myself (although I hate to thing of what would happen if "THE" earthquake should happen).  

Coming up on six months of being unemployed.  I have decided I am going to write a blog about being "White, Old, Male and Unemployed".  Not to mean other unemployed people don't have it worse, but my experience is my experience and I won't apologize for how I feel.  I am shocked that the obvious age discrimination, but while I was on the "other side" and hiring people, some of the older people we hired (or didn't hire) expressed the horrors of being old and unemployed and looking for work and discussed obvious age discrimination .  I am going to a job fair this morning and I am sure I will feel a good dose of it.  On the other hand, I can understand the need to provide younger persons employment, although with the "new" career of a series of short-term positions.  I think the flat discrimination against old people is what is absolutely unacceptable.  

I really feel the younger generations are going to get a nasty surprise when they get old (we all do, or accept the alternative) and don't have sufficient retirement income.  I think now is the time to look at how to resolve that problem.  

I am about to tackle my 3000+ photos I took on the trip to China (and  about 50,000 pictures of other occasions, including Christmas's long past!).  It is time to sift through the photos and send many away and highlight others.   My desktop computer is actually running slower trying to sort through 50,000 photos (many the fault of the Apple "Faces"  aspect of iPhoto).  I will have to delete, delete, delete and then figure out how to backup my photos.   I will work on my videos/movies after that.  

I didn't try to sit on the patio this morning, may have been a good day for it, but I have a busy day ahead, although "busy" is relative anymore.  

That's it for today, Thursday, May 22, 2014.

UPDATE:  Both of the stories on Suburbs and Cities (Wall Street Journal and USA Today) were using the same data!