Fathersuarus Rex

I haven't blogged in forever....why? Mostly because I'm lazy. But also because finals combined with work and then finally getting a week off to catch up on all my sleep...well just didn't happen. Hope you didn't mind. :)

So I'm doing Summer quarter. Woot. I guess. Actually it starts Tuesday and will go for six weeks. Then I'll get my month off before finishing my last year!!! Crazy...only one year until graduation. Excited! So why am I not taking as much of break as normally planned this summer...well sometimes you have to do what you have to do. Life's a marathon, not a sprint. Sometimes you just have to plow through that billion degree hill and not stop even when you feel like you legs are going to fall off.

People are almost always surprised when I say I'm doing summer quarter. Who in their right mind would continue taking classes when they could have a break?!! At least that's what I used to say. But!! Finishing school two years early sounds wonderful to me. :) Then Australia? I think so.

So where's the lesson in this blog post? I'm not sure...kinda rambling. Maybe sometimes taking the hard route now will pay off in the end. Heck yes class of 2011!!  But!!!! I do have a sweet picture to show you for this Father's Day:

FATHERSUARUS REX
It's a pasta painting. :)

This was more of an update blog. :) But I'll have some "deep" ones soon! I have several running through my head, but this week of break has my brain on relax mode and not brainstorm mode. So enjoy this cool picture instead and have a wonderful day!

Evilomics isn't all evil?!! Maybe...

Although I'm on Spring break and school should not even be in my thoughts, microeconomics is again coming into play in my blog... Sheesh, it was such a painful class that taught me more than I would ever like to admit.

In probably one of the only chapters I understood, our class discussed why a firm would take on short-term losses for the sake of long-term gains.  In other words, a company would be willing to sell a product at a price that created losses in order to keep customers in the long run and hopefully get to a point where they would be gaining again.  Let me provide you with a nifty little graph to help demonstrate.

A company would be willing to charge $495 or even $250 (depending on the demand of consumers) even though they need to charge more in order to not have losses.

Red area is their loss.

If you don't understand... don't worry. I still don't really understand... What I want you to get is that sometimes companies are willing to take losses (being in the red) so that in the long run they will eventually gain (getting the green).

Life can be like a business.  Our goals are to stay afloat; to not have so many losses that we go under, and to receive gain; to enjoy life to the fullest.  Like a business, life has costs and benefits.  And like a business, sometimes it takes periods of costs and loss before we can enter periods of gains and benefits: taking short-term loss to receive long-term gains.

Example: Playdoh is only one of the greatest things on this planet. If you only play with your Playdoh for 15 minutes at a time rather than 1 hour your Playdoh will last longer: 1 hour of play time would most assuredly dry out the dough.  While 15 minutes is never enough time, you need to sustain that short-term loss of play time to ensure the long-term lifetime of your Playdoh.
 In reverse, sometimes short-term gains can result in long-term losses.  Say you really REALLY love cookies. In the short-term, if you eat a dozen cookies it's going to be awesome! But in the long-term you'll gain 5 pounds and you'll be less healthy. The extra weight could eventually lead to heart disease, hypertension, and then you die.

Life takes sacrifice.  Living for Jesus takes many instances of short-term loss to receive the long-term gain.  Our short time on earth is to be lived in full surrender to Christ 
Mark 8:34-35  ³⁴Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. ³⁵For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. (NIV)

So what are you willing to give up in the short-term so you may gain in the long-term? Sports? Maybe get involved in leadership and serving at your church.  Time? Perhaps spending your weekends getting in the Word rather than partying.  Relationships? Pursuing Christ rather than a boy or girl.
You have to give up in order to receive. (Check out this blog for more on surrender.)

So although microeconomics was one of the yuckiest classes on the face of the planet, God used it to speak to me. If He can use evilomics He will use you! (Tangent.) 
Anyways, that was all I had to say. Thank you all for reading my blog!! I really REALLY appreciate that you all do. Especially since they seem to be getting longer. Sorry. LOVE YOU!!!

Colossians 3:1-4  ¹ Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. ² Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. ³ For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴ And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory. (NLT)

Evilomics

Microeconomics. It hurts to even see that word on my blog...but! I have something very important that all of you should know: I have determined that economics are the worst kinds of evil! I have come to this conclusion while studying for my final.

One important concept of microeconomics is Game Theory-used in Oligopoly (basically when only a few major corporations run a market; like the auto industry) ((p.s. Oligopoly is a sweet word and I feel like it should be the new name of "Monopoly" the game.)).  But Game theory introduces the payoff matrix.  This matrix helps firms determine what route they should take. ...here's where the evil comes in...

Take an example from one of the sweetest heroes ever: Batman.  Specifically, The Dark Knight.  Now lets take a look near the end of the movie when Joker has the two ferries rigged with explosives. One ferry full of convicts, one ferry full of nice innocent people.  He gives each the detonator to the other boat. The Joker's game is that one has to blow the other up first in order to survive: if no one detonates on purpose then they all will die. Now we all understand the moral dilemma here...but economists don't!!

Here comes the payoff matrix:

Ferry 1	Ferry 2
		Don’t Detonate	Detonate
	Don’t Detonate	(0,0)	(0,1)
	Detonate	(1,0)	(1,1)

Now an economist would say, let's do what's best for us! The goal of the matrix is to determine the highest payoff (get a score higher than your competitor).  For Ferry 1, if Ferry 2 doesn't detonate, they'll choose detonate just so they can score 1.  Same with Ferry 2, if Ferry 1 doesn't detonate, they'll choose detonate.  No matter what each ferry does, it's in both their interests to detonate.  The "Nash Equilibrium" (What you're supposed to pick) would be (1,1), both detonate.  Everyone dies.

The Joker (arguably the best bad guy in the history of comics) was depending on the people picking the Nash Equilibrium because he was an economist.  Fortunately, there were no economists on the ferries and they did what was morally right! Batman ended up saving day and the Joker was owned.

Moral of the story:
Joker = Evil  
Economics=Joker  
Economics=Evil