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Economy, News

Death of The Newspaper

January 18, 2009

As a child, reading the LA Times was a big part of my morning routine. As I grew older, the sections I read also grew with age. From only reading the comic section, to reading the Lifestyle and Sports sections, the newspaper had always been a way for me to get my news for the day or week. Newspapers played such an important role in society that it is sort of odd to think that now their are talks that the days of waking up and reading the Sunday sports section or even the latest movie review maybe over.

With the Tribune filing for bankruptcy, the fall of the newspaper industry has commenced. Just the other day on my way home I was listening on the radio how one newspaper was forcing its writers to take non-paid days off just to stay in business. While it is easy to blame the economy for companies going out of business, their are many reasons why the newspaper industry is where it’s at right now.

The Speed of Information

For every newspaper, their is a website for it. With that said, who would pay for something they can get free. This is an obvious reason to why the newspaper industry is struggling to survive. With individuals being able to read articles that are in the newspapers for free online, people see no reason to pay for a newspaper subscription. Not only does it save money, but in most cases you can find out about a story even before it reaches newspaper stands. The speed of the information travels faster than the newspaper companies can put them on stands. As a result of this, fewer and fewer people subscribe to them.

While newspapers have made the transition to news online, they have entered a market where they cannot win. The reason for this is simple. The market they are trying to dominate is already dominated by other websites. For example, newspapers used to make a decent revenue from the classified section. Today, when people need to post something to the classified section, they go straight to Craigslist.org and list it their. Why? Because it’s free. The age of information has two basic elements. The first is speed. People want information as fast as possible. Even waiting 5 minutes for information is considered too long of a wait in some instances. The second element is cost. People now consider their options and weigh the cost against benefits. With information being so readily accessible and free, newspapers that charge people to post ads automatically become unreasonable.

No Real Content

Of the newspapers I still read, my local newspaper is one of them. The reason I read it, is because I want to learn what is happening in my city and because I feel like what they write about has value and the writers opinions. When you look at the LA Times or even the NY Times, you will most often find the same articles. What most newspapers do now is take articles from the Associated Press or even Reuters and just insert it into their newspaper. For them, it saves time and money. Still, for the reader it brings no real value if you can find it any newspaper or even just hop online and read it from the AP or Reuters directly. If the newspapers wanted to keep readers, they would have written ‘real content’ that would have been engaging to their respective cities.

With companies going out of business, many will now wonder if it is the newspaper industries turn. Since it is now feasible that such a collapse is near, the newspaper industry may follow the steps of automakers and large financial corporations and ask for the same kind of help that the government gave them: a bailout.

If it comes to that, it is my opinion that the government will not help the newspaper industry. The reason is this: one of the key determinants to who has been getting bailouts are those that are deemed crucial to our economy as well as to society. Carmaker’s were able to make the argument that millions of jobs and hundreds of smaller industries would fall as a result of their collapse. The financial corporations made the argument that the economy would never recover if they collapsed. So what about the newspaper industry? If they collapse, the result would obviously be layoffs, but other than that, people would turn toward the internet for their information or to watching the news on TV.

If it does come down to the newspaper industry collapsing I will miss picking up the newspaper early in the morning and reading the sports section as I get ready for my day. In the end it is not that we don’t like reading the newspaper, but that all in all, newspapers have become obsolete.

Career, Lifestyle

One Relationship: Two Roads

January 15, 2009

As I enter my third week of the work I have come to the realization that I am an ‘adult.’ Books and midterms have been replaced by meetings and hours of starting at a computer screen. For most, the corporate work path is well suited for them. Working at Future Delivery I have a truly unique opportunity. I am able to set my own work hours, sleep in as late as I want, and work on any project I want. So you ask what kind of job is this?

This is what it is like to be part of a start-up company. Everything I mentioned previously is not what it may appear. Yes, I can set my own hours, but I have been working approximately 14 hour work days, 7 days a week. I can work on any project, but still need to get them all done. I can sleep in, but if I do, that only means I will sleep even later. The corporate life provides structure, rules, and guidance. In a sense, when you first start out working in the corporate world, you are taught how to work. No one can teach you how to be an entrepreneur or part of a start-up company. Instead, you are given an idea. With that idea, you have to run with it. If the idea doesn’t work. Then pick up another one and run again.

For myself, the person that means the most to me aside from my family members, is my girlfriend. Recently, she joined the corporate world and now works 9-5, 5 days a week. Looking at how far we both have come, I realize that determination has played a big part in where we are today. In high school, we were both determined to be with each other through it all. During college, we made it through a long-distance relationship. Now here we are again. Facing two different paths: Corporate world vs Entrepreuner world. One is where you follow the rules, the other, you make em.’ When her work day is done, mine continues. When her work day starts, mine still is continuing. I have made adjustments to my life so that I am able to spend ‘quality’ time with her. From waking up early and getting more work done during the day, to delegating tasks to others. Just like when you ride a bike, at first you will have bumps and falls, but eventually you will get the hang of it. Similar to that idea, the career paths my girlfriend and I are part of is ‘work in progress.’ We will learn what works and what doesn’t. What is right and what is wrong. Most of all, we will learn how two different career paths can make for one great relationship.

College, Lifestyle, Social Media, Sports

Mission: Live at 24 Hour Fitness

January 8, 2009

In the next month, I will be attempting to spend 24 hours at a 24 hour fitness. I will eat, sleep, and exercise at 24 hour fitness. It may seem a little crazy (maybe more than a little), but it was an idea that I came up with when talking with my friend. As a college student I paid $700 a month including furnishings and utilities for housing. I got my own room, my own bathroom, and shared a living space with 3 crazy other people. Compared to what other college students were paying at other colleges, I consider myself lucky. For example, my girlfriend paid $800 and shared a room. This didn’t include utilities or furnishings.

So the question that my friend and I talked about was how to live cheap. Now the word cheap may be associated with ‘poor quality,’ but to a college student it means ‘bargain’ and ‘good deal.’ The idea that I came up with was why not live at 24 Hour Fitness.

For $20 a month, you have 24 hour access to their facilities. Assuming that their are 30 days in a month that means you are paying an average of $.66 a month! That is a deal. I know what you are thinking by now, “Who in their right mind would do this?” The answer to that would be a college student. The perception that anything can happen in college is pretty accurate and an idea like this is right up a college students alley. Now, what I am proposing is not to actually live, study, and sleep at 24 hour fitness permanently, but to stay their for 24 hours for fun and jokes.

For 24 hours, my friend and I will be going to a yet to be determined 24 Hour Fitness Center and attempting to ‘live’ their for 24 hours straight. We will each be bringing a small gym backpack. In it will be a small container of rice (in case we starve), $10.00, gloves (for when we pump iron), and duct tape (I’ve heard you can use it for anything). Aside from the items listed, we will also be bringing a basketball, toothbrush and toothpaste, a sweater, and 1 paper cup each.

Also, I plan on video recording the whole 24 hours (or at least most of it) so I will be bringing additional disks to record as well as batteries.

The next question that you may be wondering is, “What will you eat? Where will you sleep? How will you shower..” The answer is simple. For every daily activity that we would normally do, we can do it at 24 Hour Fitness also.

Here are a couple questions that some of my friends already asked me:

1. Where will you sleep? –Yoga mats in the exercise rooms (gonna pretend we’re meditating…for a long time)

2. Shower? –Lucky for us, 24 Hour Fitness has showers for members to use. I will not be recording this for obvious reasons.

3. Food? –Simple. All the PowerBar’s we can eat for $10. Water is free (if not, we might die of dehydration.)

4. Boredom? –No way to solve this. It is bound to happen. Hopefully later than sooner.

5. Getting kicked out of 24 Hour Fitness? — As far as I know their is no rule against staying at the gym as long as you are a member and you aren’t breaking any of their rules.

6. Are you gonna bring your cellphone? — Nope. If I need to contact someone I’m gonna do it the old fashioned way: pay phone.

Hopefully at the end of this ‘adventure’ I will be able to look back on it and have a few laughs. Otherwise, I expect to never set foot in a gym for many months after it and have a greater appreciation for my bed.

Stay tuned for 24 hours at 24 Hour Fitness review.

Cars, Lifestyle, Travel

Traffic Capital?

January 5, 2009

You go anywhere in the United States and you would be hard pressed to find a place as busy as Los Angeles when it comes to the traffic on freeways and downtown streets. While it is an exaggeration to say that freeways are always crowded, it isn’t entirely true.

When people mention to others they are from Los Angeles, one of the first things that people think of aside from the southern California weather and beautiful beaches is its overpopulated freeways and congested streets. As an LA native, living in the southern California and commuting to LA frequently has made me ‘comfortable’ to traffic. What I mean by ‘comfortable’ is that driving in and around the LA area, you come to expect the 10 minutes stuck in traffic to get to the 5 south interchange and spending 30 minutes in traffic to go just 3 miles in the morning. To those who haven’t driven in the LA area, 30 minutes may seem absurd but that is just how traffic is in Los Angeles.

By far, the worst time to commute is the early morning rush and the evening rush hour (3:30PM-6:30PM). If you do ever need to go into downtown LA during this time, be prepared for some quality time with your radio. Still, the morning and evening rush hour is something that all LA natives have come to accept and become ‘comfortable’ with.

The answer to why we as LA natives have come to be so ‘comfortable’ with the traffic in LA is like trying to explain how the earth was made. Their are multiple reasons, but one that I feel best explains it is because we feel that their is no way to solve it. What is meant by this is that Angelino’s have become so dependent on driving all over LA that they are willing to put up with the traffic because their is no real solution to it. The two options are to put up with it, or don’t drive. Sure, you can choose to drive at a different hour of the day when their are fewer cars, but this still doesn’t solve the problem of traffic itself. For the rest of us who have to commute into LA to get to work by 9AM, the morning rush hour is our only option.

LA has tried to alleviate the problem by increasing the efficiency of traffic lights and expanding freeways. Still, for every freeway that is expanded, it seems like another has construction on it. Like a disease that has no real cure, the LA traffic situation can be treated by attempting to ‘quarantine’ and ‘contain’ it so that it doesn’t get so out of control that not driving becomes a realistic option.