Student Debt in America

I listened to this podcast (This Week in Venture Capital) about a company focusing on organizing a students debt and loans. More than the company, the stats really stuck out for me.  Here they some and what they mean:

Student debt is HUGE. Student debt over last 10 years has doubled to a trillion dollars.  Here’ the breakdown:

Debt in America
People can’t get jobs still. 50% of people graduating from University are unemployed or underemployed

It’s not just poor, it’s a lot of people. 2/3 of all students graduating in 2008 took on debt

It’s a problem that isn’t being solved. Of the 2008 grads that took on debt only 22% of these are current (aka up to speed on their payments)
It’s not just young people anymore. 34% of all outstanding debt in US is held by people 40 years or older

This is fundamental problem in America and it’s impacting everyone at all ages and areas.  I feel like it should get great attention and be a bigger part of the “what’s wrong with America” conversation.

Luckily, the changes in the education system will cause more schools with more affordable opportunities to emerge.  Kahn Academy U can’t come fast enough apparently.

Foot, Meet Mouth: Hunter Sleeping Edition

Last week i said the words about Hunter

The little guy sleeps!  Yes, he seems to be good at his sleeping. He doesn’t like going to sleep but once he’s there he crushes it from 6-8pm to 6am.  It’s a beautiful thing. 

I spoke WAY too early.  Since then the little guy has been regularly waking up at 3am and crying his face off until we feed him.  Um, yeah, that’s not so fun.  My bad, internet gods, i promise not to do it again. 

Baby Thoughts: 5 Months Edition

Ok people, my sister’s post inspired me. Here are my current thoughts about the whole baby situation.

The little guy sleeps!  Yes, he seems to be good at his sleeping. He doesn’t like going to sleep but once he’s there he crushes it from 6-8pm to 6am.  It’s a beautiful thing. 

Ever since i was 18, i’ve become really good at not hanging out at my house. I loved to meet people for drinks, go to concerts, parties, dinners, etc.. I used to never go home. I never cooked.  Seriously.  When Diane moved into my apartment in LA, i still had the shrinkwrap casing on my oven. I had literally never used it.  Why do i mention all this?  Well, the little guy goes down every night at 6pm and once that happens we are tethered to our home. Every night. We have to be there.  And while it’s really great that the little guy sleeps, it’s really weird to have to be inside our home all night every night.  I have not developed my hang-out-at-home skills. Any suggestions?  

My commute sucks. It’s never really bothered me before but that’s because i was leaving at 7 or 8pm and could cruise sans traffic.  Now that the little guy goes down early, i’m trying to get home early and have a new appreciation for why rush hour exists. There went 1-2 hours of my life every day. 

I have a new respect for Pixar movies.  We just watched Finding Nemo last night and now i’ve seen the Madagascar film a few more times.  Those are legit films. 

My baby is just getting cuter.  He’s non-stop smiles.  It’s pretty awesome. 

And hanging out with Uncle Mckenzie. 

9 weeks in: a report

I last did a report about life with Hunter when I was 3 weeks in.  Since then, I’ve learned a few more things.

Getting up in the middle of the night repeatedly can make a man (and mom) batshit crazy.  For us (and most people), the getting up in the middle of the night to feed the child never stops and is totally exhausting.  Diane and I are taking turns who gets up for the main feeding in the middle of the night.  We found that if the same person keeps doing it, that person becomes not so fun to hang out with.  We’ll see how this new experiment goes.

Hunter is not always happy

Continue reading “9 weeks in: a report”

David Brooks: A Good Marriage is Equal to Doubling Your Income

David Brooks, one of the better columnists out there was interviewed by Alec Baldwin a few months ago on the Here’s the Thing podcast.  It’s a really interesting interview.  The entire thing is here but below is my favorite 4 minutes of the interview is where he talks about the book he wrote and why it’s so important to choose a good spouse.

The first few seconds of this clip below is about his book is about why kids drop out of high school. He found in his research that you can tell in the first 18 months of kid’s life whether they will or not.  Apparently, kids who can form attachments at an early age can form emotional attachments with teachers and peers later in life and they’ll generally be okay.  If you can’t, life if very frustrating.

The second part of this short clip he shares some of his thoughts on marriage.  I found it interesting to hear that he goes around and tells people, “If you have a great career and a crappy marriage, you’ll be miserable. If you have a crappy career and a great marriage, you’ll be happy.”  I like the thought of that.  If this is true, then all the courses you should take in college should be about who you should marry.

He then talks more about happiness and makes the point that money only correlates a little to happiness and that studies have shown that, of people who are happy, they have a good marriage and that the happiness gain of a good marriage is equal to that of doubling your income.

The link to listen to the pod is here

This may be why I was so willing to quit my job in 2009 – because I was about to get married.

3 Weeks In: A Report

Well, Hunter came into the world three weeks ago.  A few people have asked how it’s going.  Here are some initial thoughts:

There are some new experiences. Here’s one. Never in my life have ever not been able to go to sleep when i’m tired.  If i’m really tired at the end of a day and something comes up, i’ve always (if I’m really tired) been abel to push that item off till  the morning or do some small action to appease it enough where i can still go to bed.  Even in college, i’d take short power naps when i got really tired in the middle of the night. I’ve never been forced to stay awake, ever.  Until now. Not being able to go to sleep because a baby is just crying its face off is a new experience and it’s quite painful.

 

Continue reading “3 Weeks In: A Report”

Welcome Hunter!

We had a big change in the Lewhouse family this week.  On Monday afternoon at 5:25, we welcomed Hunter Lewis into the world. He’s definitely keeping us busy and now that we figured out how to actually get food into him. We’re rolling – at least so we think.  If you’re interested, you can read below for a timeline log of the actual birth and how it went down.

Continue reading “Welcome Hunter!”

The Beats of Change – Electronic music is the new indie rock

I got to quite a bit of live music shows.  I try to see my favorite acts whenever they roll through Colorado.  I just went to Coachella and in the past year i’ve seen Mumford, The National, Wilco, Andrew Bird, Shins, Radiohead, Childish Gambino, Band of Horses and others.  I like these shows but they are also frustrating.  I increasingly find that rock bands do nothing more than just play the songs from their album, in a way that sounds just like the tracks on the album and i leave the venue wonder why I went.

I began to think back to why people used to go to shows.  In the past, i could imagine that music represented more than it does today. It represented a movement. The Rolling Stones and Elvis were a powerhouse that were more than just great songs.  Or, i could see how an artist’s lyrics (such as Bob Dylan’s) were so meaningful that their concert was more akin to a speech or a rally.   None of these are happening in indie rock today.

However, i do see this stuff happening with the electronic music scene.  Two things are different. First, now that music is digital, the instruments of today are the computer and that’s resulting in brand new music that is truly different than anything that’s come previously.  Second, the concerts where this is played are extremely social.  The DJ’s aren’t just playing music for an audience, the audience is involved. Very involved.  As my friend JT said this weekend after hearing Swedish House Mafia, “it feels like the DJ’s are conductors.”

Also, these electronic artists don’t need major labels.  They are proficient in interacting and promoting online.  If fact, most of them don’t even release albums in the traditional sense.

It feels to me that this electronic music scene is the future. Bob Lefsetz agrees with me.  I just hope i’m not too much of a dinosaur to enjoy it.