An Interesting Point From an Unlikely Source

In procrastinating a bit at work (I know, I'm guilty), I was reading one of the more humorous Yankees blogs, "It is high, it is far, it is... caught" and they posted a letter to the editor from the Bergen Record in Northern New Jersey. Follow this link to see the letter. It is interesting that most media and people in general are not talking about this. I apologize for being cryptic, I don't want to give away the info in the above link.

Cheers,

C

A Brief (I promise!) Word on the Election

By now you know the results, and I sure didn't think that it would be such a landslide victory. If you look at this link, you'll see which states went for each candidate. What this tells me is truly just how upset and fed up with just about everything the country is at the moment. I hope we do see the change, and I hope it is positive. Now if only we could drink on the beach again!

-C

The Next Book I Will Read

You've probably heard about how much I like reading Gregg Easterbrook's weekly column on ESPN.com's Page 2, TMQ. Well, I'm going to sound like a broken record, but he continues to be my favorite regular columnist to read. In a time where the Country, and to a certain extent, the World is panicking over the present volatility in the stock market, TMQ is a refreshing voice of reason and rational thinking.

That being said, he highly reccommended a book titled An Empire of Wealth by John Steele Gordon. This book studies the history of financial panics. I don't have much training in the area of economics, but all this recent hubbub has ignited my curiosity. I enjoy a good challenge (what Engineer doesn't?!) so I'm going to take this opportunity to try to gain some perspective on economics and hopefully learn a little bit about a subject I used to shy away from.

I should be picking this book up in the next week or so.

Cheers!

Tioli's Crazee Burger

While watching a show on Food Network called "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" Guy Fieri visited a great little burger place right in my neighborhood! That being Tioli's Crazee Burger. When I moved to the North Park neighborhood of San Diego, my neighbor and co-worker took me to Crazy Burger on one of the first days in my new apartment. Due to the great menu and quirky atmosphere, I've been back several times. The menu is dominated by various types of burgers, including some, er, exotic types of meat. Tioli's uses Ostrich, Bison, Venison, Alligator, Kangaroo, Lamb, and Beef to name a few. I've also had a crab-cake burger there that hit the spot for sure. As the two owners are German, they, of course, serve up various German beers, as well as a wide selection of wines, which they pour in generous quantities.

The real charm of Tioli's Crazee Burger is the history. The name Tioli's comes from the previous tenant, an Italian restaurant. The two German fellows who bought the place decided to keep the original name, and simply add their name to the business.

At any rate, it was really neat to see a divey, hole-in-the-wall place that I visit on tv. I got to see behind the scenes, and the cook is hilarious. He was wearing this t00-small baseball cap, that was cocked on his head at such a kooky angle he looked like a cartoon character. If you're in my neighborhood and feel like a burger, be it conventional beef or some far-out concoction let me know, I will definitely join you.

Cheers,
C

Yes, I like to cook.

"So, do you like to cook?"

An attractive girl asked me the above question this past weekend. Here's how the rest of that went down:

me: "Yeah, I like cooking."
girl: "hmm, do you have a girlfriend?
me: "nope." (sweet)
girl: "...wife?"
me: "nope." (perhaps she's interested)
girl: "huh, so you just cook for yourself?"
me: "yep, most of the time" (aw shucks)

I know it's tough to convey the context of that conversation, but I promise, it was only slightly awkward. I did manage to score a hug, when she realized the burn. I say realized, because it turns out she was just really amazed that a guy would cook for one, rather than actually trying to bust my chops. I admit, cooking for one has its challenges, but with practice, I've gotten better at creating tasty, and relatively inexpensive meals, without wasting ingredients to spoilage, etc.

At the moment, I'm watching Good Eats - a personal favorite, and this episode is all about popcorn. I am now inspired to make an attempt at homemade popcorn. I like Alton's approach to cooking and his cooking show. He's very practical (often touting kitchen multi-taskers), and has many shows about making the most out of simple, readily available ingredients.

Again, I babble - but at least this post was more fun than my previous one!

Cheers.

A Few Words On the Economy

I'm definitely not a financial expert, nor do I work in the financial world. However, I do a fair bit of reading, and recently that reading has been dominated by what's going on with the economy, wall street, etc. There seems to be a whole lot of panicking going on - with good reason - America is definitely in a touchy situation at the moment, one that we haven't seen in a very long while. I tend to avoid reading the doomsday type of articles, as they don't seem to have any valuable advice in them. The best column that I have read on this subject can be found on ESPN.com. I am referring to my favorite sports writer, Gregg Easterbrook, and his weekly, TMQ (short for Tuesday Morning Quarterback). His column primarily sums up the week in NFL Football, tempered with some extra content on a subject not related to sports. Recently, TMQ has commented on the current economic woes, including the recently bailout plan, voted down by the House.

I find myself adhering to Easterbrook's words more and more, especially whenever he comments on government, the economy, and similar subjects. The bailout plan was a bum deal for Taxpayers, and I don't think many Amercan's realize that. The bailout was essentially free money to the banks and organizations who created the current economic crisis to begin with. The worst part was that it would add $700B to the National Debt straight out of current (and future) taxpayers. As a relatively new taxpayer, I am not excited about the egregious amount of debt that this country is carrying. The National debt was five trillion dollars in 1998. It now sits around eleven trillion dollars. As TMQ notes, it took this country 220 years to get to five trillion, and we doubled that in the past 10 years. Mind-blowing, I know - but what should we have expected from a guy who managed to not only run a baseball franchise bankrupt, but also an oil company. Yeesh.

Anyway, I've rambled around enough, hopefully I can expound on my thoughts tomorrow. I recommend TMQ to everyone, even those who do not like sports. The column can be found on ESPN's "Page 2." See you tomorrow (hopefully!)

So Much For Regular Updates...

Well, I guess I've been busy lately, hence no updates, not even any random comments, thoughts, or brain dumps. Well, I just read an interesting article about a group in Idaho seeking to preserve music in the vinyl format. As a former DJ, I am all for it. I still have all of my old house/techno/etc. records, and I regularly search craigslist for used turntables to add to a future home audio system. The subject of the article mentions the warmer tones of vinyl (as opposed to the cold, clean, compressed sound of the ubiquitous digital formats) contributing to a richer listening experience. The article also talks about coffee shops and other such places holding "Vinyl Music Nights" where people gather and play records. I'd like to find one in the San Diego area. It could be a fun alternative to the usual bar scene. I'll keep you posted on whether I find that turntable. Until then, I have to get back to work - more to come.

Cheers