Photo: December 1 morning. Seabrook, TX

December 1st is a good reminder that the year is wrapping up and it will be 2009 before much else gets accomplished.

After months of work without a break, I spent Sunday afternoon flat on the sofa, watching an old Star Wars movie on a new TV I bought to help kick-start the economy (and to stop having to deal with a black rectangle that kept popping on the screen of the not-so-old TV, blocking half the screen).

Now I don't have to squint to see the thing! Go forth and spend some money America. Save some too.

But we need to get normal spending -- and loans -- going again for the sun to break through the economy.