We live in a crazy world, and it's gotten a lot crazier in the last few weeks. But if you spend all your time focusing on your problems, you're going to miss a lot of simple pleasures.

At least, that's what my producer tells me…and he's omniscient...

Thanks, guys…as I look back on the past week or two, I've got plenty of reasons to feel discouraged about life:

--Every day the boys and girls on Wall Street toy with my life savings like they're playing pinball on speed.

--We're three weeks away from the most important presidential election of my generation, and the only guy who's speaking his mind is a bald plumber in Ohio.

--Lower fuel prices make me happy…until I realize I'm getting excited to pay $3 a gallon for gas.

--On top of all that, last weekend I got laid off from my student ward cause I'm too old.

Sometimes it feels like the world is circling the drain of the cosmic porcelain throne. But I know these problems are going to pass. As I take a good look at the world of Terreality, I realize there are still plenty of things to be grateful for:

--Every Tuesday after 3pm, you can get three hard shell tacos at Del Taco for a buck-nine.

--We're only two weeks from the new Jazz season.

--I can go up in the mountains and shoot stuff whenever I want.

--The last hour they're open, Top Hat video puts all their movie rentals at 60 cents. Even the new releases.

--There's no rush hour traffic when you start work at 1am.

--Best of all, six days before Christmas, I'm going to be sitting in the upper bowl at Energy Solutions Arena while Neil Diamond rings in a little Hebrew Yule.

Patience is a virtue, but waiting for your problems to go away is stupid. Mick Jagger was right:

"You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you might find you get what you need…"