Yeah, I'm writing the Daily Bear Dump today.  Why?  Well, for today at least, I've got something to say, and all the time I want to say it.

See, for much of this current recession, the whole 'economy is in the crapper' idea has been more of a 'theoretical' idea than a grim reality.  With the stock market tanking late last year, I went out an bought an X-Box.  With millions losing their jobs every month, I continued to collect a steady paycheck every two weeks.  Housing market crashed?  Well, my own personal housing situation remained quite stable.  I even went out and splurged on a motorcycle back in January.  In fact, I considered it a small point of pride to be able to continue propping up our sagging economy.  Well, that time has come to a close.

Now, don't worry, I still have a job.  I just have a little less job than I did last week.  My hours are cut back to 7 hour days, 4 days per week.  I'm still getting by, but with the recession now hitting me personally, the belt-tightening begins in earnest today.  That's not to say that I've been lucky enough not to know other people who've been hurt by the recession before now, or self-centered enough that I haven't really noticed.  Of course when family or friends are set back by the economy, I'm going to feel it, and in direct proportion to how close those people are to me.  But at least when I have work, I can concentrate on that; it's when I'm home on a Wednesday, to no particular purpose, then I really have time to...think about things...

Now, I'm not looking to host a pity party or anything.  Far from it.  I simply thought it was interesting that with all of the 'doom and gloom' news items that we hear every day, stories of widespread economic weakness seem to continue to miss the point.  We each feel the economy in a very personal way; for those still with jobs, it's hard to understand how hard it is for those on unemployment, and for those who've barely begun to save for their retirement decades down the road, it's difficult to relate to those about to face a looming retirement with only a portion of what they thought they had.

So how does this affect you, the CGB readers?  Actually, it should affect you quite positively.  Today will be the first of my weekly unpaid days off, taken for the foreseeable future.  What to do with the time off?  Perhaps I should update my résumé?  Probably, I'll spend more time with my family, and get to all those errands and chores I've been putting off.  Most definitely, I'll be spending more time blogging, working on all those blogging projects I've been putting off.  Hooray for CGB!

Or, at the very least, now I've got plenty of time to catch up on Battlestar Galactica.  Don't tell me what happens!

And, now, let's do the links.  I'll start us off:

Men's Tennis Receives School-Record 10th-Straight NCAA Bid

The No. 40-ranked California men's tennis team (11-10, 2-4 Pac-10) received its school-record 10th-consecutive bid to the NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Championships today and learned that it will face No. 17-ranked Pepperdine (19-9) in a first round match at 11 a.m. on Friday, May 8. The Golden Bears will take on the Waves in one of two first-round matches hosted by No. 9-ranked Stanford at the Taube Family Tennis Center in Stanford, Calif. The Cardinal (18-5, 3-3 Pac-10) draws Sacramento State (19-6) at 2 p.m. later that day. The winners will face off in a second-round match set to start at 3 p.m. on Saturday, May 9.