Nothing to blog about, really.

This is my first blog online. But I haven't really done much with it at all.

The past year has been pretty much event-less for me. But it has been a bad year all around. Michigan's economy has been going down the drain for a while, with the down fall of the Big-Three auto industry giants. Their bad luck may have been made inevitable pretty much by themselves, IMHO. But their incompetencies will leave the state and the people in the ditch for a long time to come.

The latest bad news in Ann Arbor is that of Pfizer closing its research facility in town, laying off some of its 2000+ employees and moving a large portion of them elsewhere. That is just one latest example of big business carelessly trumping over the lives of people. The real estate market in Ann Arbor is already down with a large inventory. Now the housing price will stay down and flat for even longer.

One good news is that Google is coming to Ann Arbor. The word "coming" is still accurate at this point although it has been announced by Governor Jennifer Granholm for a while with a little bit of local media fanfare. It is indeed very easy to put too much hope into this Google move. Michigan's economy rides heavily on automobiles. It will take no less than that industry's revival to lift up the state. There are a lot of science, technology and research can be done around that industry. High-tech doesn't have to be life science if the Republican controlled state legislature simply does not have the vision to invest money in that. It is amazing to see that California invest huge sums into stem cell research and renewable energy while Michigan can't seem to get out of survival mode.

I am also contemplating moving to a different state. Leaving this town where the kids are born and grow up won't be easy. However, what have kept us here for years are the small college town life and the good public schools. Now the Republicans are cutting fundings to education because of the state's budget crisis, I fear that they will sink the state further.

Well, I'll see if I am really back to blog more.