The underlying problem is, house prices are *way* over-inflated. Inflation-adjusted, they peaked at *double* the historical norm, and all this mess started when they came back down just 10-30% (regional). There is a generation of people who honestly believe that house prices don’t go down, and have made grave mistakes in their personal finances as a result. Nation-wide, house prices above about 3x the median hosehold income aren’t sustainable, and we’re still about 5x (and of course far worse in the housing bubble cities).

While there were certainly a subset of loans that were just bad – forged docs, impossible payments, etc, and that’s what’s causing this month’s crisis, the problem is much deeper. There’s an entire culture now of buying a house with a mortgage payment of 80%+ of your take-home pay, counting on cashing out equity every year because “house prices only go up”. This isn’t a problem the government can fix.

Sure, the governement needed to intervene to avoid a market panic, but really it just needed to “make a market” in these mortgage-backed securities, to allow them to trade at a value not absurdly depressed by that panic. That’s not a $700B bailout, that’s just splitting the difference between buyer and seller.

Long term, however, house prices are certain to fall back to sustainable levels, and anyone thinking “we just need to put this problem behind us so house prices can start rising again” is in a dream world. The governement isn’t going to solve that problem, and shouldn’t try. Do the minimum to stop the panic, and get out.
-lgw

What do you all think?

So, I’m curious– what have you done to put some razzle-dazzle into your C-V or resume?

As you can see (if you visit AndrewJBonham.com), I have a pretty well-developed Research section, but my Curriculum Vitae is (1) not very well formatted (I just pasted it in from google documents) and (2) pretty bland.

So, how to improve it? Teisha already suggested making the Teaching section more prominent and higher up the page, since that’s my goal; a good suggestion. But i feel like the whole document is too dry and passive. At the same time, I don’t want to go crazy and have a document that doesn’t look professional.

Also, I haven’t written anything for the Interests section yet, since I’m honestly not sure what face I want to present to potential employers about my hobbies: Do I mention my love of tabletop roleplaying games? What about computer games? Should I talk about my amateur programming and web design (probably)? What can I add to put my best foot forward?

Those are my primary dilemmas, but I’d be interested in hearing about (or seeing) your resumes as well, and how you’ve crafted them.

I’m conflicted because I want to get back into some long-term lab projects, but have no idea when my mock could be — they do the scheduling a week in advance, and if the next week doesn’t work then they start scheduling for the week after… (such as, last Thursday I was told it could be this week, on Wednesday, but was only told today that it won’t happen… and they’re starting to check it if can happen next week, but that’s doubtful with faculty going on trips over Spring Break). People tell me not to worry about doing experiments right now, but it’s just kind of hard to for me — I want to get things done and get out of grad school eventually, not to mention feel more productive and accomplished…

Socially, it’s been hitting me a lot too — even when I haven’t been studying/reviewing and have been trying to have fun with friends, it’s been hard. Even when not studying, I’m a lot more stressed and anxious than usual — I’m a bit of a catastrophizer and the exam is always lurking in the back of my mind, and I know I won’t feel better until it’s done. Also, some friends have been trying to plan an all-day party event with us and their other friends, but I haven’t really known my schedule in advance because any time I might find out my exam is a few days away, and then I’ll need to review/study/rehearse more…

Anyway, I just want it to be over with, but at this rate it may not be until April… I’m tired of putting off friends and work, but oh well, I guess that’s grad school.

edit: Detection of Sequence-Specific Protein-DNA Interactions via Surface Enhanced Resonance Raman Scattering

The things that keep me most busy are, predictably, my work and Teisha’s work. My work because my project isn’t going so hot. This project may yet fail– we’re supposed to submit a grant in two weeks, but we don’t have nearly the data that would require. On top of money– it’s just not working. It’s a frustrating situation. Teisha’s work because there have been a few tense moments, such as one of the labs Teisha enjoyed working at not having funding, and organizing a fourth rotation. It’s not technically my stress– but I try to be there for Teisha and help, and it has worn us both out.

Beyond that, though, there is some mirth and merry-making to be had. I have some great friends, Ted and Christina, that we’ve been seeing more of (and they’re moving nearby soon- yay!). With them, and other friends like Paul or Nathan, Teisha and I have been watching anime, playing RPGs, and taking night-walks. It’s nice to have plans and things to do.

This summer promises to be busy and fun: I’m teaching General Chemistry 1C, which is a great opportunity for me and should be very rewarding. I also want to take SCUBA lessons, and get some roleplaying GMing in. On top of that, Teisha and I want to take some fun vacations. Oh, and maybe I’ll get some work done, too, or start a new less-doomed project.

So, hypothetical reader, what have you been up to?

No real story here, other than a mildly interesting article and my obsessive-compulsive nature.