A Five Dollar Hose

I have recently been experiencing some problems with my car. The coolant's been leaking and my car overheating plus the belt slipping off. I figured it was the water pump and was ready to take it in and spend who knows how much to get it fixed. My dad convinced me to take a look at it with him and see if we could fix it ourselves, he even bought me a new water pump. I get the car over to his house and start taking the engine apart and realized that a small hose, connected to the water pump, I couldn't see before had a whole in it. We then realized that was the problem and exchanged the water pump for a hose that cost five dollars. That's right it took a five dollar hose to fix my car, and now several days latter I can confirm that.
I wonder how much I would have spent if my dad hadn't convinced me to try to fix it myself, and if I didn't have to courage to try. (I don't really know much about cars and engines). That gets me to thinking how often the solution is quite simple, cheap and easy but we either over complicate things or just don't trust ourselves enough to fix the problem. When that happens we turn it over to the "experts" and throw large sums of money at it which might not even fix the problem. I know now in the future I might be willing to try things first myself and maybe get help when needed instead of just giving it over to someone else and just look for an easier solution and not assume the worst.

Legalized Crime

Today I talk about an ongoing crime that has continued on now for years and no one seems to want to do a thing about it. It's that most horrible crime that plague college students everywhere. The incredibly overpriced textbooks. Unless you're some snot nosed rich kid whose parents are giving them a free ride and paying for everything, you know what I am talking about.
Just the other day I went to my university's bookstore to purchase the texts books I'll need for my five classes this year. I had $400 in financial aid money to get them with, which turned out to be over $150 dollars to little. I was able to get all of them except one which cost $171 by its self, Ridiculous! I am a poor married college boy working at a fast-food restaurant trying to pay the bills. I don't have that kind of money just laying around. I'll have to wait several weeks until I get my refund money to be able to get it. Who knows how far I could far behind.
How long will this crime be allowed to continue? When will something be done? They are holding us over a cliff. We have to buy the books or we might not pass so therefore we'll charge you whatever we want for it. That's extortion. Something must be done. Maybe if we all banded together and refused to buy them.....