Rant about the global marketplace

Date	Place	Duration (min)	Time
27 Aug	Moscow, Chisti Prudi	28 minutes	08:25

     So I’ve been in Moscow for a few days.  I’ve been living in a hostel, sleeping in the bottom bunk in a room with eight other beds.  One of my friends here says that I should be living somewhere with more status instead of a place designed for students.  I say that I’m saving money.  

     Yes, sometimes, my money-saving actions get in the way of other things that may be more important. I often buy the least expensive item—like a bag.  Then the bag gets a hole in it sooner than it should.  I think, “Well, I guess I shouldn’t be so hard on it. I shouldn’t be so forceful when I zip it shut.”  The place where I bought the particular I’m thinking of accepted the bag, and repaired it.  Now, however, more than 6 months after I bought it, the bag has the same type of problem with a different zipper.  

     So…I guess the overall design of the bag is flawed in that the zipper trying to curve around the corner of a bag presents too much stress on the fabric, thus causing it to tear after a short time.  In my defense, I will say that I paid about $100 for the bag.  I am still of the mind that for $100, a person should be able to get something decent.  I hope that something decent will last longer than a year.  I can remember my mother having bags for more than 10 years!  

     So what I am complaining about here?  Things not lasting like they used to?  Cheap goods being produced with substandard labor, by people who aren’t paid enough?  The fact that many good jobs that should be filled by Americans have been shopped overseas? (I know I'm not in the USA, but the world is such a global marketplace that everything, everywhere is made in China, anyway)  Maybe I am complaining about the high prices of everything here in Moscow.

     Whatever.  I had a good run today.  I couldn’t really sprint, though.  But considering that last Saturday while I was using a arm press machine, my back went out on me as I had stabs of pain shooting around my spine, I am doing quite well.  After the back injury, I had a massage that didn’t solve much, then I rested and on Sunday night, things were nearly back to normal and now, on Wednesday, I can hardly feel a problem.  Yahoo!