Don't get left behind!

Today was a very good day. I feel so good right now, it's almost as if I've finished this paper that I've been working on for the last four months, even though I still need to re estimate all my equations.

I did something today that I did not know existed before. I accounted for non-stationarity in my data while estimating Granger Causality tests in a VAR. Last month I added this simple test to my paper to see whether or not two of my variables were probably endogenously determined. I used the simple version of this test because I didn't know that a more robust version actually existed. 

Last week, however, I attended a seminar and someone presented on Granger Causality and I couldn't understand how her whole paper could be based on this very simple test that I knew of as just a diagnostic test. So for a few days that question rested on my mind and finally today I did some research and what did I find? I found that I'm very old school. My econometrics knowledge is from the 2006-2008 era. Which, in 2015 is very old. In my econometrics days I didn't even learn how to use panel data. 

This is one of the most important reasons for going to academic conferences and networking with others in your field. If you don't, you'll get left behind! Things change everyday day. Processes get upgraded and new ways of doing things are discovered every year. 

Of course not every conference will yield new knowledge and sometimes because of our busy schedules we may not be able to read all the new material that gets released. Notwithstanding that though, the effort to continually learn must be made. Or else one day my 9 years as a university student will become useless simply because I didn't stay relevant. 

Husband and Wives should be neighbours

Why do people believe that after marriage, they have to move in together and do everything together?

It really is a strange thing to do. Why can't they just be neighbours?

Let's think about the concept of marriage. In a typical two person relationship, the couple dates, courts, falls in love and decides to get married. The marriage is done through a wedding ceremony usually and a legally binding document is signed by both parties. This document makes both parties legal representatives and caregivers of each other. The agreement does not stipulate that the couple live together.

Living by oneself is hard enough as it is, living with another person can be very difficult. Many newly weds experience utter shock after living together for a short while. Some people blow their nose and eat it. Some scatter clothes all over the house . some pee on the toilet seat. Some don't know that cleaning means more than vacuuming and organising chairs. Some think it's OK to shower only two or three times a week. There are so many ways in which individuals differ, why would we want to iimpose our strange and sometimes nasty ways on the person who we love so much?

Since we love each other very much, let's keep it that way and share a fence. Let's be neighbours. That way, we can be close but not so close as to disgust each other. We can see each other everyday and sleep in the same bed when we choose to. You would argue less because if you don't like something in your spouse's house, then you can simply go to your house. If he didn't wash his sheets or his house smells like feet, you can simply leave and return when it is in a more habitable state and to top it off, he can visit you until such a time occurs.

Being neighbours would also make you both more ambitious. There wouldn't be such a big fuss over splitting the family house in half if a divorce were to take place. The woman wouldn't transfer all her financial needs unto her spouse and her spouse wouldnt become financially burdened by marriage. This would definitely make happier spouses. What do you think?

Our Struggles

Each person is so different from the other, even though we share certain similarities. Each person has his/her own struggle, no matter how big or small the individual is. We all have targets and milestones in our lives and achieving the goals and getting to the mile stone has to be a challenge otherwise it wouldn't have been a worthwhile target.

 For some persons suffering from depression that target may be getting out of bed each morning and doing simple tasks like taking a shower and getting out the house. For many persons these tasks aren't targets and just form a natural part of their day. For some persons, eating healthy is a big target, and to this end, losing weight may be the end goal. For another set of persons, buying things like houses and cars are their targets and problems surrounding the monetary aspect of these dreams plague their thoughts. For some persons, simply following a routine is a struggle and therefore all the above mentioned targets become more difficult because of a simple inability to stick to a routine.

We grow up following routines. We wake up, shower, go to school, play with friends, return home, study, watch tv, sleep. That was my routine for most of my childhood. It was supposed to get me ready for the routines I would need to succeed in adulthood, but I broke away from this tiring routine during university and it's been the hardest thing to revert to it. Even while working this routine was hard. My body hates waking up early and hates being put to sleep before it's naturally ready to sleep.