Funny Hat by Ed Lau

The easy thing to do is to go with the flow. Do as everyone else is doing and you’ll fit in with everyone else. Then again, being normal might not be what you want to do and it is with that kind of perspective that we dive into this week’s speedlink. Enjoy!

We start out with quite the extensive essay by Ed Lau. He provides his viewpoint on the whole Occupy Vancouver movement and why it “has wasted our time long enough.” In his own words, “Occupy Vancouver tried so hard to be heard that they forgot to actually say something. That about sums up not only for those first few hours but pretty much all of Occupy Vancouver.”

More in line with the overall theme of this week’s post collection is an entry from Scott Young. He reminds us of some great career advice: do what others won’t do. Again, doing what everyone else is doing makes it difficult to set yourself apart from the crowd. You want to stand out if you want to be noticed, get hired, and be compensated accordingly.

Just in time for the holidays, Buzz Bishop chimes in on why he hates it when people say things like happy holidays or seasons greetings. No, he’s not looking to increase the religious context of Christmas; just the opposite, really, since he wants to keep Christmas for everyone… but keep Christ out of it. Make sense?

I have something in common with Meg Fowler. We both recently got married and we’re both learning an important lesson about marriage: it changes everything and nothing and that’s exactly the point. Our relationships with our respective spouses are simultaneously largely unchanged, yet utterly different. I feel peaceful too, Meg.

Last but not least, we turn to Trent Hamm of The Simple Dollar for some more financial advice. This time, we look at preparing for unemployment when you know that you’re going to be “downsized” soon. Some of the key tips here are common sense: start living cheaper now, build up the emergency fund, and polish up that resume. Finding a side gig isn’t such a bad idea either.