cloudy days, and links

We’ve had a cloudy week in Florida: it’s been cold and gloomy, suffering from the trace remnants of the tropical storm. That – plus a visit from relatives – conspired to reduce my writing time to almost nothing.

I did attend a birthday party for a friend of my son’s on Saturday at the dreaded Chuck E. Cheese’s. We had told my son that no CEC existed in our city; until the birthday party he had assumed we were simply a backwards, uncivilized corner of the world. But since we got the invitation – for one of his best friends – we had to go. So we went.

My kids go to a Waldorf-inspired school. It’s focused on art, singing, creativity, etc. TV, computers and electronica in general are all strictly forbidden. We cheat, of course – at home we do watch TV, and I do let the kids play www.poissonrouge.com and similar sites. But when I get dropped into an environment like CEC I realize that there is a tidal wave of electronic media overpowering our kids today. A level of electronic stimulation almost unimaginable to Gen Xers like myself exists. I don’t know what the long term effect of such heavy duty electronic stimulation will be…but wow.

Links

I have to be honest – I didn’t get around to reading much on the internet over the past few days, so I don’t have much of a roundup to promote. But, such as it is, here you go:

• Radical Thoughts About Our Culture of Debt
• Signs That You Need To Run Away From Your Financial Advisor
• Age Discrimination In The Workplace
• 7 Frugal Moving Tips
• Best Credit Cards for Online Shopping
• The Silver Lining of Hitting Rock Bottom
• How To Cope With the Financial Challenges Of Having A New Baby
• Can you keep it simple with a newborn?

Tags: birthday, birthday party, chuck e. cheese, video games, waldorf