Salon.com > Robert Lanham

Giving the recession the finger

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 10:35:00 +0000

As I was lying beneath a lustrous sun last week, with a top-shelf daiquiri in my hand, at a luxury resort that I couldn't afford in good economic times, I thought to myself: So what if we're on the brink of the next Great Depression? This was a good decision.

Days earlier, I'd been informed by my boss that my consulting job could likely end in June. My wife's freelance opportunities were drying up as well. We'd downgraded our cat from Fancy Feast to Meow Mix. And if things were about to get really bad, as some economists have been predicting, we only had a short window of time before we’d have to renegotiate the lease on our glamorous, 350-square-foot Brooklyn, N.Y., studio.

There'd be plenty of time for boiling raccoon bones into soup broth, I rationalized, should a full-fledged depression hit, but for now I was going to enjoy my drink and watch the azure waves crest into gold. I was on a beach in the lovely town of Tulum, Mexico. And I was relaxed. This was my "last hurrah" vacation.

The random beauty of “25 Random Things”

Sat, 07 Feb 2009 11:59:00 +0000

I was in the middle of typing up my "25 Random Things About Me" list on Facebook when a funny thing happened. I hit clear and decided to abandon the whole time-wasting endeavor. I'd made it through what I intended to be my sole entry before coming to my senses:

1. I like certain books and films and things that taste good. Also, kittens. Thanks for including me in this important social experiment. Now, please stop tagging me.

Over the past two weeks, I'd found my steady purr of status updates on Facebook interrupted by the ever-growing, viral cacophony of the "25 Random Things About Me" chain letter. In case you haven't been "tagged" yet (fear not, you will be) the concept is simple. Generate a list of 25 "things, facts, habits or goals" about yourself in the notes section of your profile and hit submit. Then, annoy 25 of your Facebook friends by encouraging them to do the same. "If I tagged you," the instructions explain, "it's because I want to know more about you."