New Toy

Lately days off are spent with family. I had a rough start this morning: failed my first attempt at breakfast, traveled a certain distance by foot only to realize I didn't have my bus ticket handy, played phone tag and got caught up in distracting conversations. Finally made it to my brother's house where I hung out until a few minutes ago, and was happy to get a ride home.

I shouldn't complain, though, as I was also very happy to receive an early Christmas present from my Mom: a brand new lap top computer!

I haven't had my own pc since my sophomore year of college (2004). My husband and I have had many, many computers since then, as we hang out with the sort of techie geeks who are constantly giving away their old systems. Darling even built a computer a couple of years ago. I've never felt comfortable with his system, however. We have very, very different ideas of data management. Darling's desktop reminds me of a filthy teenager's room; I can barely force myself to spend time on it. At first we were able to agree to disagree and share territory on old machines, but since he downloaded Ubuntu on his beloved machine, I've felt totally displaced. When we moved into the co-op I took up residence on the house computer while he remodeled our personal hall closet into his tiny man-cave.

I love cooperatively sharing a computer, but it can get old. Located in a small office next to the kitchen, it's primary function is to burn time while people wait for water to boil for tea. As I can spend several hours on a post, and most like to blog in the morning, it's not unusual to be interrupted seven or eight times by people "just checking in." If I write in the evenings, when people are up for late-night chats about their day, writing is nearly impossible. And that's just for the blog. My creative writing has taken place in shoddy notebooks and loose scraps of paper.

My Mom bought this laptop for herself before remembering that she still doesn't know how to operate her CD player (she still refers to DVDs as "tapes"). Darling and I argued with her for a bit, insisting that she can figure it out, but she drove it up to Austin today and threatened to keep it in her car until someone took it off her. So I did, and am extremely grateful for the treat :) I can't wait to take it to the library a few hours a day for some peaceful creativity.

Tresure Map

I LOVE Millionaire Mommy Next Door's latest post. I think it's hilarious that a Realtor would insist you should by a house, at a higher price that you are willing to pay, because "you can't paint when you rent." Reminds me of the many overweight, unhealthy carnivores who have told me they couldn't be a vegetarian because "they need lots of protein." Ignorant much?

A while ago I took Millionaire Mommy's advice and created a Treasure Map. Because I rarely buy magazines, and the ones I do are expensive sustainability-related trade mags related to Darling's degree, I didn't feel good about cutting up the ones we have. So I've relied on ones found at the laundromat next door. After a few months (and only about three publications) later, I finally have something that looks like a completed project.

Since I don't have a digital camera, I thought I'd break it down for you:

According to the just-about-completed product, my rich life involves quite a bit of travel. There are images of mountainous tundra, deserts, tropical beaches, and fields of flowers. There is a map with a pin in Madrid, and a painting of Venice. I want to see all these things, visit these places. A large image of a yurt dominates.

Wildlife is also central to my map. There are pictures of wolves, foxes, bees, and buffalo.

Conversely, quite a few pictures represent a comfortable homestead. There are four images of pantries, pictures of preserves and a set holiday table, a candle, books, two beds, curtains, drapes, a lap dog, a toy truck, chickens and worms. These images are mostly old-fashioned and quaint: the beds are made with quilts, the pantries are filled with canned food and antique bread boxes, the curtains are hand-painted.

There are 6 words/phrases: Community, Nature, Experience, At Ease, Grow, and Revolutionary.

Strangely enough, there isn't a single image of money or wealth. There are no people, cities, or houses. There is nothing modern or technological at all.

Where does my treasure lie, then? According to this map, I am seeking a life that is at the same time simple and comfortable, yet unrestrained by distance and geography. Money is not a dominating factor in this life: I don't need a cruise ship or four-wheel vehicle to get where I'm going. Give me a back-pack full of books and the occasional barn to crash in, and I'll be satisfied.

While flipping through one of the magazines, I found a quote by a man named Patrick Dunne, who was discussing his love of old-fashioned dinnerware:

I believe in time. I believe in history. I believe in memory. I believe in the memory that ritual evokes. And I believe we live in a society that has become amnesiac, and that this constitutes the most profound form of anarchy. I believe that loving old things is a criticism of the modern world. I believe that loving the rituals of the table is also a criticism of the modern world. I believe in pausing to be a part of what you are doing when you are eating, rather than being this unconscious lump that just goes on disposing of things and being disposable.

A General Economic History of The United States

We humans live in a series of systems that occasionally seem inescapable. These systems are political, financial, religious, legal, social, ecological, intermixed, and more. Some of these systems are dangerously faulty (such as the American health system) and others are potentially broken (the economic system). Depending on which of these systems one finds most emotionally and intellectually engaging, one defines her role in her culture. Most of us prefer to be recognized by our small scale roles: we are wives in our family systems, parishioners or perhaps high priestesses in our religious systems, neighbors, volunteers, etc.

How the status quo defines the masses, however, is another thing. Our forefathers introduced themselves in our constitution as "We The People." Our nation began in such a way that the primary role of The American People was not to be subjects, but citizens. This shiny new democracy gave new privilege and responsibility to its people, which we are violently desirous to protect at almost any cost, even when France (our good friends at the time, who helped us win our independence from Britain by forcing England to withdraw, regroup, leave us alone, later ask to be allies, and send us handsome husbands with great accents a few generations later) pointed out the excellent benefits of socialism. Our role was defined as a political one, which implied that we were entitled to many rights, responsibilities, and precious freedoms.

It is nearly inarguable that the primary role of the people has shifted rapidly from "Citizen" to "Consumer" in the past forty years or so. Even though voter turnout has remained more or less steady for presidential elections (hovering between 50 and 60% besides a dip to 49.1% in 1996 and this year's record 61%), our importance as voters has been overshadowed in news forecasts and political speeches by our importance as consumers. From a historical perspective, this makes perfect, if disheartening, sense.

The birth of our nation coincided with the birth of the industrial era. With the industrial era came the incentive to produce, or participate in the production, of goods beyond the requirement or even desires of one's own household or community. Trade has gone on for hundreds of thousands of years, most likely a social activity more than anything else, but shopping as we know it, relative to human activity, is a concept still in its infancy.

Jean-Beaptiste Say was the first to develop an explanation for the role of money and consumer goods. Say's Law of Markets basically states that the moment a product is created, the producer would immediately exchange it for money, before it has time to decline in value. Then, the producer would become consumer, trading the money for new product, "for the value of money is also perishable." in other words, supply created demand. Formulated 200 years ago, this theory was simply an observation of what was happening. People really were buying just for the heck of buying, and selling for the benefit of buying more. Saving and investing had yet to become an issue: most American homes still featured a cow in the back yard and some hens in the kitchen and large multi-generation families. Most people probably had some money set aside, but it certainly wasn't as important as having their summer vegetables canned or the wool socks darned before winter.

Fast forward, to the Great Depression. By now, money was for more than pins and bobbins, and quite a large part of the market depended on the production and consumption of food, clothing, shelter, and entertainment. Suddenly, despite the abundance of goods, people weren't buying. In fact, people were practically hoarding what little they did have, and many continued to do so for the rest of their lives!

John Maynard Keynes observed the inability Say's Law to explain the Great Depression and created a general theory, now known as Keynesian Economics, to take into account savings, investments, wage adjustments, and most importantly, recessions.

Keyne's believed that the proper response to a recession is to lower interest rates and stimulate growth via infrastructure development. America is large enough that it stands to reason that we need new roads, bridges, schools, and so on pretty much everywhere, all the time. Pay the people, and they will spend money.

This is a very important swing in fiscal and social thought. I don't know about you, but I like having an infrastructure (though I would prefer more bike and buggy lanes, fewer overpasses, please). But, and this is a big and bold but indeed, this is the first time the yoke of our economic system was shifted from the shoulders of corporations and onto the consumers'. Before, producers were assumed responsible for the market as both sellers and the buyers. The government took big payoffs every once in a while, barely regulated when things got bad enough, and buyers were told to beware. With Say's Build It Sell It theory, businesses were on their own. Because Henry Ford recognized that his business would not succeed if his workers could not buy the cars they built, it stands to reason that many employers were at least vaguely aware of the need for some sort of wage-price equilibrium.

We could now see that the world economy depends on consumption, and consumption depended on employment. The government could produce jobs, employers were inclined to offer decent jobs, and consumers could leave their farms and take part in exchange for a better quality of life supplied by this arrangement.

Ancient social contracts were broken. Family was redefined: the elderly could no longer expect to be supported by their families upon retirement, neighbors no longer trusted each other to watch the other's kids, women demanded liberation. The benefits have been worthwhile, an amazing new freedom and quality of life our ancestors could not have imagined. However, the impoverished and downtrodden were no longer the responsibility of the families or communities they lived with: single moms, the chronically ill, the disabled, the newly immigrated and refugees, neglected and orphaned children, wounded veterans of war, the elderly, and others found themselves dependent on the state, and employment could not solve this problem. Even strong and capable workers were so busy earning money they no longer had time to insulate themselves from a potential lack of cash. They had little time to tend gardens, cook meals, train children, maintain their cars, clean their homes, care for their elderly, own livestock, or even clean their own homes. Women followed the men out of the house and into the workplace like confused Eves following our Adams outside the Garden on Eden in search of more fruit. The most temporary of unemployment could be devastating. The need to invest in the long-term future soared, the time and ability to prepare for the near future plummeted. Government and business had to step in and fill the space that family and community once occupied when it came to supporting the less fortunate or temporarily disabled. The government needed businesses to pay taxes, the businesses needed employees to consume, the citizens needed government to care for their unemployed.

In 1974 Arthur B. Laffer created a curve. He happened to be having dinner with the incredibly influential Jude Wanniski, Donald Rumsfeld, who was Chief of Staff to President Gerald Ford at the time, and Dick Cheney (some obscure bigwig you've probably never heard of...). Laffer's economic theory is based on the tax system. If you don't tax The People at all, the government has no revenue and ultimately fails, if you tax 100%, the people will have no incentive to work, earn no money, and the government fails (unless you are the Soviet Union which was going strong at this point, as Jonathan Chait points out in his book The Big Con). Besides 0 and 100, there are no hard numbers officially associated with the curve. It is just assumed, as this video explains, that at a certain tax rate earners at the top tax bracket will commit less tax fraud and invest more money than they otherwise would. An important note about this video: At one point he mentions that, in 1970 the highest tax bracket paid 70% tax, which affected people who earned as little as $108,000. He does not adjust for inflation to inform us that $108,000 in 1970 is the equivalent of over $500,000 today.

The Laffer Curve is pretty laughable, at best an experimental Voodoo Economics, a phrase George H. Bush coined to describe it, at worse an obvious visual aid to show how eager politicians are to bribe the rich. Yet it inspired a radical shift in the conservative Republican agenda: once dedicated to small government and a balanced budget, now only truly concerned with lowering taxes by any means necessary. With Laffer as his economic adviser, Reagan implied in more than one speech that cutting taxes would result in cutting government spending. Not so. The powers that be determined that "deficits don't matter," and since the 1980's every president has cut taxes, dismantled and handicapped countless important government programs, empowered corporate lobbyists beyond their wildest dreams, and failed to reduce or even curtail government spending.

Recessions hit in the 1970s and the 1980s, it was realized that oil and other natural resources are nonrenewable, education prices were increasing steadily, health care became totally unaffordable to the working class, the unions so many of our grandparents fought and died for went the way of the urban hen house, and everyone was getting a little worn out trying to keep up with the cost of living when wages ceased keeping pace with inflation. The rich were getting richer as the government cut their taxes time and time again, the poor were getting desperate as their benefits were cut. The tech bubble came and went, but benefited India and the corporations that now take their business there more than anyone else. Clinton proved to be the "New Democrat" by taking up the cause conservative Republicans once held dear, balancing the budget, while neglecting the traditional Democrat ideal of creating social programs. In fact, he created a surplus while cutting welfare benefits, replacing them with skill training programs that proved useless to the many single mothers plunged into desperate poverty as a result.

There's no telling what would have happened had easy credit not become available in the 1980's. Strapped for cash? Use credit. Starting, of course, with the elite, using credit cards went from being seen as a little tacky and suspicious (like writing checks today), to vogue, to the norm. For a brief period in history, consumers, government, and business could relax. By cutting taxes and encouraging investment, government only had to sit back and wait for a brighter, more profitable tomorrow. Corporations could continue to pay less than living wage to their employees, who would make ends meet with credit. The price of certain products could inflate based on how much consumers were willing to pay and how much they were capable of borrowing, which inspired a ludicrous housing market bubble. Other products and services could be shipped in from other countries, enabling consumers to buy despicably bad quality foods (cardboard stuffed wontons, for instance) at offensively low prices. Only recently has the housing market bubble burst, taking much of the credit industry down with it and leaving us stripped of our final weapon against an economy gone sour.

We have reached a point in history that, like the Great Depression, will require a massive reassessment of how our economic system works. Supply does not create demand - and more importantly - Demand Can Not Create Supply, particularly when it comes to nonrenewable resources such as oil. Producers are finding themselves between a rock and a hard spot: not only is the market flooded with unwanted product, but consumers couldn't purchase it if they wanted to, and the government is due any day now to find out that deficits DO matter - at least in the minds of voters. Right now our system is unsustainable: it depends too heavily on the exploitation of our people and our environment, the abundance of relatively rare components such as aluminum, and our willingness to consume products that are bad for us and harming our children. What will happen to the economy when everyone choses to abstain from foods containing dangerous hormones and pesticides, atmosphere destroying chemicals and oils such as gasoline, and paper products made from our old growth forests? Because every day more citizens are taking that route. And soon it will become very apparent that better quality products cannot permanently save our current economic situation.

Why not? Tune in tomorrow ;)

Yes We Can - Can You?

"Cooking, knitting, and gardening are the new sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll," Darling said this morning. I totally agree.

I'm very happy about our new president, I'm very proud of my country. After eight years of shame and embarrassment, I can tell people from other countries that I'm a Texan and maybe their first reaction won't be thoughts of Bush.

However, we still live in a country gripped by corporate control, totally at the mercy of Big Oil, Big Medicine, and Big Bad Food. Much of the "civilized" world is in the same position, there is little any man, any administration can do to solve the problems of climate change, pollution, obesity, and the myriad of issues that must be dealt with for the sake of our children and ourselves. Many, many people in the United States have agreed that "Yes We Can." Hopefully the time is coming that every American man and woman can look in the mirror in the morning and say, "Yes I can."

Government regulators may not be able to force or persuade automakers to build energy efficient vehicles. But I CAN make the choice not to drive unless absolutely necessary. Grocery stores are not liable for the tons of petroleum and paper products wasted in the packaging and transportation of foods across the country, but I CAN make the choice to spend more on local goods and on whole foods, to take my own bags to the store and bring bulk grains home in jars. Kraft and other major food companies will forever rely on deceptive advertising and false claims, cheap products advertised to our children and recommended by major magazines and television shows. I CAN turn off the television and cook from scratch, I CAN replace convenience with quality. I CAN refuse to work for exploitative employers who don't offer appropriate pay and benefits, I CAN say no to cell phones, new clothes, coffee shops, spendthrift friends, movies theaters, new books, television, hair stylists, mortgages, and the million other desires that make single-income living impossible. I CAN say no to credit! The government can not force corporations to play nice. But The People can abstain from the practices that are sold to us as necessary and force the system to change and provide us with tools and processes that improve our lives rather than stain them with artificial coloring and credit ratings.

I can do it. We can do it.

Cultivating Proactivity

Melinda is so sweet, she sent me a copy of 7 Habits For Highly Effective People. I will be focusing on my Proactivity this month. By being proactive, rather than reactive, I can choose to respond in a positive manner to set-backs and obstacles.

For instance, when my mom called me at five this morning, I could have tensed my shoulders (inviting a midday migraine) and become frustrated, deciding to be tired for the rest of the day regardless of whether I get a few hours more rest before my best friend's birthday party. I could have chosen to be bitter and fussy all day, eager to justify my nasty mood with an account of my hideous morning. This would create an unwelcome theme at my friends party, as folks would invariably launch into their own tales of woe. "That's nothing, my mom won't even pay my rent two months in a row..." All because my mom woke me up this morning overreacting to something someone said to her.

Instead, I let my mom talk for a few hours before insisting on saying goodbye. At seven, I had time either catch up on my sleep or prepare my traditional birthday treat: Giant cinnamon bun. This takes some time since the dough has to rise, so it's actually quite convenient to find myself awake so early. I might nap once it's cooling, or just catch up on my sleep tonight before Darling and I head to the beach, which I can look forward to all day.

By making a conscious decision have a positive response to a negative situation, I increased my overall productivity. And have yummy cinnamon buns for breakfast!

Local vs. Organic

I checked out a copy of Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle yesterday, and it has totally changed my outlook on food and community awareness. It is the story of a family's year-long dedication to local food. They abstain from (almost) all foods not currently in season or grown nearby. They go months without fresh fruit, make their own cheese, and reveal just how desperately we need our small farmers to thrive. My very favorite aspect of this book is that it starts with a move, from one side of the country to the other. In a world where people honestly believe they have an excuse to live hours from where they work, this family recognized it is ridiculous to live hours from anything, especially their food source.

In the past, Darling and I have wondered whether organic food choices should take precedence over local "conventional" choices. Now I understand that I owe to my community to choose local apples over organic Californian apples - or, in February, no apples at all. I should also be storing seasonable foods while the getting is good. Sure, there will be strawberries available in September, but from where? Not my neighborhood.

We spend a lot of money on organics, but local food is more expensive. Why? Because many of the organics we buy are (quietly) owned by large corporations who do things like lobby for weaker standards in USDA Organic Certification. Just google "who owns _Organic Brand_" to see just how few popular organic brands aren't peddled by the same folks who bring us Lunchables, Fritos, and Kool-Aid.

These are not trustworthy companies. These are corporations that hurt our economy, agribusiness, and national image. Honest Tea was a good brand, but is it still a good brand now that it's mostly owned by Coca-Cola? I knew a missionary who lived in South Columbia. His mission there was to protect and educate civil rights workers at a Coca-Cola factory after one of them was MURDERED in the middle of the factory, in the middle of the day, among many witnesses. The executive of that particular company would have been put on trial, but was transferred to another Coca-Cola factory in another country instead. There were no legal proceedings whatsoever. So I don't drink coke, or any product produced by that murderous corporation, organic or not. This is not an unusual story. Nestle caused countless infant deaths telling African women their breast milk was inferior and leading them to use formula diluted with dirty water, the majority of chocolate companies benefit from child slave labor, and the vast majority of commercial farms still operate on the sweat and blood of desperately underpaid, mistreated, and undocumented migrant workers. Regardless of whether or not their products are branded "Organic," it is hard to believe that any international company can do more good than bad in the pursuit of profit. I no longer wish to give a large portion of my small income to multi-faced giants. I'll spend more on better quality foods from superior producers.

Which means I need to find local choices, fast. And the time to take advantage of them.

Money Affirmation

Millionaire Mommy Next Door has proposed an excercise to open us up to receiving more money.

I thought long and hard about what I would do with $100. To be honest, I'm still thinking, but I'll say that I'd like to spend $100 on a day at Schlitterbahn, the best water park in Texas.

$200? Get me the best food processor there is! This one might do.

Walden Two

In Virginia I visited a friend who has spent the past year living at Twin Oaks, a community based loosely on BF Skinner's Walden Two. I grilled my friend relentlessly about the financial matter of this 100 person homestead. She was very patient in explaining to me how, upon becoming a member, one is expected to close all checking accounts and sell every significant asset - especially cars. The resulting amount of cash is loaned to the community, which invests it. In return, the community provides for all of that member's needs, including food (much of which is grown on their own farms), transportation (their is a fleet of vehicles insured by the group), health care, and shelter (each member has a private room). The community as a whole is employed in various industries, and the entire profit is divided equally among every member. This results in a monthly stipend of about $75, which can be spent on whatever that member chooses, or saved. Because every true need of members are met, many save this amount indefinitely or until they choose to leave. Upon separating from the community, the saved monthly stipend as well as the amount originally loaned to the community is returned in full.

Determined to know just what this mad group of hippies were thinking when designing this anti-capitalist retreat, I read Walden Two. I was struck by this line:

The profit system is bad even when the worker gets the profits, because the strain of overwork isn't relieved by even a large reward.

Having worked 20 hours in the past two days, and earned well over $200, I am torn by what strikes me at the same time counterintuitive and ingenious. And because my job caters to the act of overconsumption itself, I feel doubly compelled to question its merits. But I am not working to afford a bigger house, nicer clothing, or even gas to get to work. I suffer these stupid hours to travel far and wide, return to school, and support an otherwise leisurely lifestyle.

Could I not find ways to travel more cheaply, or for free? Could I not try much, much harder to find an applicable scholarship? Most frightening, am I buying into various green industry tactics to separate environmental activists from their green dollars? Have I really reduced our true expenses to the lowest common denominator?

Basically, there are two questions I am asking myself and readers:

1. Am I working too much in an industry that could not afford my true worth? Am I producing a surplus of goods - aka, waste - at a rate of pay that does neither relieves my stress nor guilt for having done so?

2. Could I reduce the amount of time I spend creating and selling waste (working) by reducing consumption, without disrupting positive aspects of our lifestyle nor creating more stress or guilt in the process?

Darling and I have drastically reduced both spending and consumption this year. We went a full month barely spending money at all, and have taken numerous vacations and periods of unemployment. I'd like to make such scenarios routine rather than experimental. We're not going to close our bank accounts and move back to VA, but I'll certainly be learning more than drafting this school year.

Thinking Outside The Wallet

"Now, Money is a very peculiar substance. It doesn't behave according to the laws of physics. Any amount you don't have - whether it's $5,000 or $500,000 - will appear to be a mountain. Almost any amount you do have will not appear to be enough to pay next month's bills! Money often seems to be an emotional substance - the very incarnation of 'I can't.'"

Barbara Sher, Wishcraft

This month seems focused on two themes: surviving on a third of our previous income/not spending and setting goals (college, spring vacation, and The Big Move). Until reading that passage in Whishcraft, these themes seemed to contradict each other. How can we go to college, make our way to Virginia, or even save up the funds to cross the Atlantic when we can barely fund our day-to-day living? And how can I break free of my poverty mindset in the meantime?

From now on, I will look at money as the least desirable resource to call upon. In our entrepreneurial society, there is a service for everything. It has become easy to not even think about how to solve an issue or overcome an obstacle, because someone else is there to solve it for you. I have some furniture my stepmother no longer wants in her house: should I pay someone to pack it up and drive it to a storage unit? Or should I mail digital photos of the pieces to consignment stores and pay a few coworkers a little money to ship it in the hopes of making a profit? The latter idea did not occur to me until I decided to think outside the wallet. Now I am thinking "outside the wallet" to see how else Darling and I can save and even make money on our more expensive goals.

When we visited Texas from Virginia the first time, I borrowed a friend's car for two weeks. I couldn't believe our luck or her kindness, but her small sedan was a lifesaver. We borrowed a tent and camper stove from another friends, which was far cheaper than spending the night at a motel. Once in Texas, we crashed on couches at friends and family houses. The trip cost us about $700, including gas. On a previous road trip, myself and two other girls did our best to make our way from state to state without spending what little money we had on food: we borrowed a big bag of bagels and fruit from our college cafeteria, convinced fast food places to give us free bags of fries, and slipped into hotels advertising continental breakfasts. The three of us didn't even know each other before the trip - we just all happened to be going in the same direction and one us had a car!

Wishcraft Review

A few weeks ago Heather recommended I read Barbara Sher's Wishcraft - How To Get What You Really Want. I don't read much of the "self-help" genre outside of the financial section, but this one is pretty interesting if you can get past the cloud-and-rainbow 70's style cover. Although it was written for my parents' generation, the advice is still sound. Many of Sher's opening tips on determining goals is already second nature to me: I've been practicing visualization techniques for as long as I can remember, and have been documenting them since I was fifteen (which was right when I decided to leave my Dad's house, convince a friend's mother to take me in, and enroll in the Austin school system semi-illegally...which I did). Before deciding with Darling to move to England in two years, I fantasized about and recorded "my perfect days" in Hawaii, New Mexico, and India. Barbara tells us to believe that any goal can be reached, and that the hard part is scraping through all the layers of self-denial and finding out what we truly desire.

Sher's advice on what to do once a goal is decided on is surprisingly sensible and useful. I'll be using Sher's advice in creating a plan in the near future. The key to overcoming great obstacles is to break them up into smaller, manageable tasks - but Wishcraft shows us how to do this in a way that will ensure we will complete those tiny tasks in a timely matter. She goes on to describe the biggest obstacle most of us will ever face, Money, and how to get past it.

Anyway, if you have any impossible dreams that need tackling, (and who doesn't?) check this book out. Thanks for the heads up, Heather :)

TV Links

Darling and I don't have a television set, nor any desire to own one. We watch movies on our computer. Now that we've discovered TV Links, we can watch our favorite television shows as well. Their selection ranges from modern favorites like Lost and House to the obscure Clone High and Titus. Although Darling and I are proud that coming home and vegging out in front of the telly has never really been an option for us, I have to admit that winding down in front of an episode of Big Wolf on Campus or Buffy the Vampire Slayer will be a special evening treat.