I spent a bit of time traveling this past week as many did. It left me some time to ponder very important things like:
* Michigan. is there anyone left in the state for the holidays? Judging from the bumper-to-bumper Michigan traffic coming down I-75 last Saturday I'd say yes, but only a few.
* Bumper-to-bumper. Based purely on anecdotal observation, I'm not sure riding on the bumper of the car in front of you at 80+ MPH gets you there any faster. However, judging from the driving patterns of the recent holiday weekend, I'd say a lot of people think differently.
* All SUVs, all the time. That pretty much says it all. Granted, I drive a Forester. On the other hand, when you add a SUV with 80+ MPH speeds and bumper-to-bumper drivers...it's a recipe for disaster like happened over in California.
* Outdoor advertising. I'm not sure what to make of the numerous billboards left vacant between Indianapolis and Lexington on I-74, 64 and 65. A sign of the declining economy? A sign that businesses realize this isn't a useful way to promote their business...sticking an image and a message in front of motorists hoping to survive the drive home by focusing exclusively on the bumper of the car in front or the grill of the car right behind them.
* Christmas discounts. If our economy is doing so well, why the deep discounts in retail prices PRIOR to Christmas? Does that mean the retailers are gouging us the rest of the year? Or that with a negative savings rate, declining equity values and incomes rising slower than inflation...our consumer-based economy may be facing some quirks?
* 2-stage Christmas Celebrations. Here's an idea for Christmas: Celebrate it in 2 stages:
Stage 1: Spiritual, emotional. Focus on the spiritual, emotional, giving, sharing, family-gathering, caring element of Christmas on/around the 25th based on your religious and social customs.
Stage 2: Materialism. Buy the material goods afterwards when retailers have knocked off another 25- 50%. That adds much needed time for the values that are important AND adds a few dollars to our pocketbooks.
Note: And as a 3rd bonus, if you do this next year,...you'll extend the Christmas season a few more days.
* What to Buy 'Em? Keith Ferrazi offers the best solution for buying gifts. Buy yourself what you'd like to receive from that person. Then you both share what you bought. Father and son relationships, awkward mostly and especially around gift-giving. Keith's dad had a solution:
...let's each go out and buy ourselves a gift and wrap it from the other person and the surprise will be what the other person wrapped.
I know the advice here is a little late for Christmas. But...it works for birthdays, anniversaries, just-because's and next Christmas.
Happy New Year.
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