And So It Is

And then it was over. I have been away awhile, to be sure. But in the meanwhile my life has taken a discrete change of course. My job at my current firm was not something that made me intrinsically happy - but those who know me, know where this analysis will go and I don't wish to address that in this forum. What I do want to address is just how unique my time here has been. A disproportionate amount of time was spent hanging out with my friends on the 'net. Included in this time was general web surfing, reading, and browsing. My time on the net has allowed me to sustain - and in some cases grow and build real life relationships. If you wanted to reach me at any time during the day, it was clear the easiest way to do so was on the net.

Off the net, I met many characters. My Vietnamese bff, my Korean-Argentine boss, the office snitch, some unique older women, the half jewish child savant, the football jewish player who left and came back a zionist, and my gambling friend. These people were ones that I spent the better part of my life with, and really exposed me to the idea of being around people who you had no choice but to be around. Will these people be lifelong friends? Who knows. Have they had an impact on me and how my life will play out? Undoubtedly yes.

Where does this path continue? It takes place elsewhere. That is all I can say at this point. It is different from where I am. I believe it will be better. What I know is that I may have to endure some sort of complex thought and stressful situations. My life is currently void of these types of encounters. It is curious that I would not only leave my current situation to seek out this other more demanding type of life. But that I do. For the love of money. For the love of challenge. For the love of change.

If anything, I will be able to look back on my life and see that I made a conscious decision to change the path that inertia might dominate. An active (and quite laborious) journey this was to find something else to spend most of the time in my day doing. The path of least resistance is surely not what I have encountered. If this is the lone achievement when I look back - then so it is.

Followers, I'd like to end this entry (this blog?) with some points to focus on though:

1) IAMBA
2) M.O.E. (Money Over Everything)
3) He Lied
4) McDonalds is good to eat.
5) Traffic sucks
6) Weather is crazy
7) H8rz Gon H8

Till next time...

The Morning Welcome

Walk in the office, walk by the MD, I get, "How's the golf game coming son?"

Yup.

Thought from a Walk

Just got back from a nice walk to the park and three events happened.

My job is smoke and mirrors. Yes I have learned a good amount about the arena and field in which I work, but it is mostly smoke and mirrors. I can throw around alot of buzz words and when people talk about the subject of my work I will be able to participate. That being said, my role in the grand scheme of things is quite tangential and can't say I have accomplished much.

The clouds that were so prevalent this morning have cleared up. When I drove into work this morning the weather was quite gloomy - and to be direct - cold. Thought I almost should wear a jacket when I looked out my window this morning. But this California weather is crazy and when I went out for my walk, I noticed how beautiful of a day it is.

Using leashes on kids is wrong. Saw a dad who had twin kids both with leashes on - holding one in each hand like he was racing these kids in the Iditarod. Mush kids mush. One kid tried to take his sunglasses off and the right leash was violently jerked and then the kid was disciplined. It's not right what was happening there.

Conversation Piece

Went to the doctor the other day to try to get my ear checked out and an interesting conversation ensued amongst those in the waiting room (the doctor showed up 45 minutes late for his first appointment <circa 5 o'clock>). The conversation was between four patients, and the nurse. Here is the play-by-play:

Lady 1: It has been so hot recently, how have you been holding up Rosa (nurse).
Nurse: Just glad to be in the office with the air conditioning.
Lady 2: Tell me about it, the walk from my house to the car to get over here was horrible!
Man 1: Yeah, and on top of that, the traffic is absolutely nuts getting here.
Lady 3: What freeways you take?
Lady 1: Bet you took the 10 huh?
Man 1: Yeah, 110 to 10
Lady 2: My brother said you shouldn't get on the 10 after 2:45 any day, particularly the weekday.
Man 1: Well I suppose I had no choice, had to come see the 'doc.
Lady 1: Traffic been bad for you recently son? (to me)
Me: Yeah (giggle giggle)

(TV showing what to do if there's a Tornado in your area)

Lady 1: Isn't it crazy how tornados can destroy one block, and leave the next looking perfectly fine? I could never get used to that...
Lady 2: Yeah you could, you'd get used to it.
Lady 1: No I couldn't
Lady 2: Yeah you could.

Lady 1: No I couldn't

Lady 2: Yeah you could.

Lady 1: No I couldn't

Lady 2: Yeah you could.

Lady 1: No I couldn't

Lady 2: Yeah you could.

Lady 1: No I couldn't

Lady 2: Yeah you could.

Lady 1: No I couldn't

Lady 2: Yeah you could.

Man 1: My aunty lives in Missouri and they get them all the time, took me a long time to get used to Earthquakes around here, but you get used to it.

Lady 1: Well I am used to Earthquakes after livin here a while, I guess I could get used to tornadoes. 

Lady 2: Where is Missouri is your aunty from?

Man 1: Jefferson County area.

(Television shows ways to get kids to go outside and play more often. An example was to trick your kids into going for a walk by making it into a game such as looking for a house with a red door)

Lady 2: They think these kids is dumb?

Lady 3: Kids on my street? Never see them outside. (looks at me for my approval)

Me: Yeah, kids these days just play video games all day, when I was a kid my mom had to tell me to come inside. Used to be if the street lights were coming on you better be...

Lady 1: Coming Home! My mama used to tell us kids the same damn thing! But kids these days...

Man 1: Yeah, the kids these days all they do is play video games, all day.

Lady 1: On second thought, I don't think I could get used to Tornadoes.

Life Decisions

At some point in my life I will move from my current estate. I will bid farewell to my neighbors. I will bid farewell to my friends at the gym. I will bid farewell to those who wake up early on weekends to have fervent discussions regarding our incarceration system. No longer will I have seventy fast food options in a one block radius. Gone will be the days of the dual laundry-mat barbershop experience. These things will pass be by in a similar manor of how they entered - as a path to something bigger and better. Strictly "better" you ask? I guess we will save that discussion for another day, but I feel comfortable in at least labeling the next stage of my life as bigger. Bigger in scope - and bigger in size. I will begin a life of doing things I do not do know - leaving some activities forever in the past. 

Recently I interviewed some people who live in my neighborhood and I will show you the answers they gave me to the question "how did you come to live here?" Anonymous responses were:

"It's a good location as far as being a substantial radius from any public park."

"The rent is a good price for what my family needs."

"There are alot of nice up and coming restaurants in the area."

"Just graduated college and I'm in grad school so this is a good area as far as meeting other young people."

"25 to life aint shit."

"I have been looking for an area that had a laundry-mat and barbershop in one."

"Wanted to live amongst real people - tired of the Hollywood stereotypes."

"People in this area are very eclectic - I need that in my life."

"Its a great location for everything in LA"

I would share more, as I interviewed nearly 500 people, but the rest of the answers are within the scope of the above sample. Suffice to say - we are a common ilk. 

But I digress.

As you probably deduced by now my topic comes to an issue I have as far as what I will do when I find a new location - and is one that I am sure all of you readers have faced as you move to more ritzy areas. Should I:

1) Buy a slick coffee maker that allows me to have steamed milk and cappuccino and all that kind of stuff in order to offer people or give people something to do when they come visit me in my new pad.

or

2) Live near a place with a good coffee shop that I can make an event out of "going to grab a cup."

I want someone to be impressed by the selection of activities I have to do in my new neighborhood, yet I struggle to also show that I am sophisticated and have a nice coffee maker that can do alot of different, nice things. I mostly want to have a few nice coffee shops in the area to take visitors, yet I want a nice machine for myself in order to brew something nice when I need a little caffeine fix to stay awake and read and study and advance my knowledge.

This is my conundrum.

Biebs and his Broad

Look at these kids. How bout them eh? Just a real up and coming power couple. Taking over the game. "0 - 11 Bonnie and Clyde, Gomz and Bieb, holla"

Garage Improvements

I have worked at my current job for more than two years and I cannot think of an event that has changed my daily life as much as what I am about to describe. The garage in which I park is a labyrinth inside of a labyrinth. Often if I am forced to park in a different section than I usually do, or try to leave out of an exit that I don't traditionally leave - I will spend the better part of fifteen minutes trying to escape. Even when I park in my regular area that I have parked every Monday through Friday at approximately 9 AM PST for the last two years in order to go to the same desk and do the same things that I have been doing, I encounter some difficulty when I make that same drive home. The problem is that there are two right hand turn lanes out of my garage, but I need to be in the furthest to the left in order to be in a position to get onto the freeway that I have taken every day to drive home to the place I have lived for the last two years. But, when I must make a straight right angle turn in order to get into the correct lane. This has actually caused me to scrape the side of my car in order to get into my favorite turn lane. In any case, even when I dont literally damage my car trying to get into this lane every evening of the last two years, I encounter some difficulty. That is until I leave work Monday evening. The turn is much easier. What? Why is this? They shortened the divider for the lanes - allowing me some more leeway to swing out a little wider on my turn so as to not scrape my car, yet get in my desired turn lane! How about that! Thanks!

Man In Elevator

Coming back up from my daily coffee break that happens at about 3:15 every day (which actually now is a trip to 7-11 where snacks on snacks can <and are> be purchased) when a guy got in the elevator with my co-worker and I. My co-worker and I were shooting the breeze when the guy got it, swiped his badge and hit his floor number (below mine). He then adjusted his shoulder strap on his laptop case, backed up against the wall of the elevator, and leaned his head back against the wall. While doing this he closed his eyes, and grimaced as though someone had wrapped their hands around his testicles and squeezed as hard as they could. I believe I heard a noise that was made by this internal pain. Then, I realized what it really was. He was just simply on his way back to work. The recognition of this was enough to cause his body to convulse and try to protest against the impending nightmare that he was about to reconvene in his office. All this happened in the time it took to go up three floors, he adjusted his bad, threw on a smile, and walked out the elevator. 

Focusing Life

I've been trying to get more "cut" recently. I'm mostly on track to making this happen except there are a few shortcomings:

1. Don't have enough time to go to the gym.
2. Fast food is too tasty.
3. Fast food is too cheap.
4. Want to save some energy so that I don't feel too sore and it prevents me from working out the next day.
5. Sometimes I'm mentally worn out after a day of surfing the net for hours on end
6. Trying to add to knowledge by reading and learning things so that takes away time from getting cut.

But these are literally the only things holding me back and I'll probably be pretty cut soon.

A Day In The Life

I have been showing up to work inappropriately late. Somewhere around 9:15 or so I roll in this place and am surely one of the last two or three people to arrive. Often I am the last. That being said, I am also the last person to leave. I do not mean "often" or "a good amount of the time" the last person to leave - I mean every day. This brings us back to the concept of "face time" that has been debated and discussed ad nauseum by the thousands and thousands of comments left on the corresponding posts. But this time my direct supervisor who was previously my peer used the word "perception" and then ensued to place a number on the time that clearly demarked what was acceptable and what was not. I raised my concern over which was more important, more hours working, or the selection of hours worked - and he clearly showed preference for the latter. It wasn't his perception for which I was trying to placate, but some managers a couple levels up. And me being a direct proxy of how well he does his job, it was in his interest to have me arrive earlier. Fair enough. A wise old man once told me:

 "never let the sun catch you in bed."

So I had some room to work with where I wasn't doing much but sleeping. And I most definitely don't need any more sleep than I get because, plainly, I don't do anything that would be considered physically or mentally stressful. After watching four episodes of The Sopranos last night, I didn't wake up feeling quite the same motivation to show up earlier than was required of me as I was directly after I had my talking to. Ended of leaving about nine minutes earlier than I typically do. It didn't do the job. I showed up at 9:03 and was pretty anxious about explaining this one to my manager. Luckily, he was taking a smoke break and had no idea whether I arrived pre or post nine o clock. Nevertheless I felt bad and had a motivation to get some work done today. Which I did. Work was accomplished. On top of that I hung out with the friends on the net and read articles and checked the book and did some research on subjects of interest and reminisced on times much better than the current.

Now I sit alone in the office. The last man. The dumbest man? The most foolish man? Factually this is no longer about face time.

Probably going to watch some more Sopranos tonight.
Probably going to arrive at work before nine tomorrow.
Probably going to discuss carmageddon tomorrow at work.
Probably going to take Friday off.
Probably going to get back into the sports betting game.

Destiny

If you don't like your job its your own fault. You are in control of where you work and can make changes. You probably work at your job because it's the best option you currently have given your current situation and requirements of life. If you really wanted it all to change you would do something about it. You'd stop playing FIFA, stop hanging out on the internets and facebook in particular. You'd stop watching dumb shows on netflix streaming and telling yourself that whatever sports competition is on tv is a "big game." You'd stop wasting your time at the gym because you're not really getting any more fit. You'd stop reading dumb books about subjects that aren't going to contribute to you changing your current situation and getting you a different job. You'd stop wasting your time at work surfing the net. You would be proactive in doing everything in your power to get a new, good job.

That is all.

New Things To Be Happy About

Good news is, theres a 7-11 that just opened downtown. Usually we go to 'Bucks, Coffee Bean, or Famima(!) but this place just opened without us any the wiser, although we walk past the area every day. 7-11 is closer, cheaper, and has a more broad selection of items. For me (to me Andy) this makes 7-11 the clear cut choice for any day. They have items on (cheap) items. Oh, you didn't know that I still go out to get coffee everyday around three everyday, still? Yeah, I do. Its a reward to myself for the hard work I put in (4:13 PM, none really done yet). In any case, the new place to go for the afternoon break is real exciting, and in particular they have an item that I am quite fond of. The damn Cheeze-It(s). Also, got the iced coffee that was cheaper than at coffee bean or 'bucks (but correspondingly tastes worse, might try the mocha option tomorrow). Well, that's mostly what is going on today. Trying to get more cut for the summer so this place is a little dangerous when a man is trying to watch his calorie intake, but I'll probably make up for it at the gym. Today is arms - and on top of that I'll hopefully throw in some abdominal exercises because I know that always looks real nice at the beach and is a good surprise (most likely) when someone who doesn't really have alot of man weight like myself pops their shirt off.

Covered some good topics here, that you might not have thought were related, but they are, and they are amongst my favorite subjects. Other things I have been thinking about today at work:

1. Will I ever get a new job
2. What will I eat for dinner
3. Will I take a summer vacation
4. Will I actually make it to the gym tonight
5. How can I look occupied while obviously not delivering any tangible work output
6. Will people judge me because I'm listening to reggae music in my office
7. If you dont give a song the "thumbs up" on Pandora, how is it scored
8. Will the dodgers finish in last place
9. Will I get back into the sports betting game

The Game of Golf

No, I don't work at McDouglestein & Benson Investment Banking Enterprise. But, I do work in an office, and on some levels there are similarities. I posit that on a topical level - interest in golf is one of them. I have been to a driving range a grand total of four times in life. I am somewhat interested in this game as a new pursuit and challenge. So I have been talking to the guys about it as much as possible because 1) people who golf love to talk about golf and 2) the second best thing aside from actually doing something you find fun, is talking about it (some might say more fun). The reaction people get when you say the word "golf" is astonishing. Above and beyond the reaction the word evokes from it's purveyors is when you say you are new to the game and are eager to learn. I have received roughly 411,731 pieces of advice over the last three days since I began to be interested in "getting into the golf game." It is the number one thing to bring up in a group conversation better than the weather, traffic, and movies you've seen. For me, this could not be understated. It is clear that the three aforementioned subjects are the most frequently discussed topics, but the most fervently discussed topic in the corporate work place is golf.

Just now in the lunch room I was barraged with comments, thoughts, suggestions, prices, and everything to do with golf. It was a smorgasbord of topics relating to golf. People love it, people hate it, but people will talk about it with you and have a story of something great or horrible that happened to them regarding this sport. Maybe how they suffered years trying to get good - and then gave up. But still, they have things to add to the conversation and not just topical "I take the 10 to the 405 south if its after 4:30 on Monday" -esque type things. There is a substance and level of sincerity that is unique to most work conversations.

I would be amiss if I were not to address that IAMBA. Also, most of my life should be about getting my cake up. These two factors position golf front and center. Golf may possibly be a sport than no one enjoys. I may or may not completely agree with the previous sentence and could make arguments (strong ones at that) that would support it. I won't. But let's operate under that assumption in the forecoming discussion that immediately proceeds. People golf because other people golf, because other people golf, because their boss/client/future boss/future client/networking opportunity/overall hustlin opportunity/ golfs. There are millions (billions?) of people all over the world who are golfing because it is a way to lube damn deals, and advance their lives and generally help to get their respective cake up. The logic as it pertains to me is as follows:

IAMBA -> Trying to Get Cake Up -> Going to start golfing.

It's not a complicated issue, but it is not trivial. If you leave out the middle step, you will see why me (and many others) don't golf. It is the cornerstone. If you don't got it, you won't golf and you won't ever really be a "member." (The discussion of what exactly a "member" is, is assumed by the Blogmaster to be known by the readers, but a more rigorous analysis is necessary, possibly at a later date.)

So that is what the game of golf is. It's about spending hours and hours and hours and years and years and years doing something that aint nearly as fun as a man sport like basketball - but what's important here is pickup basketball ain't gonna get you a crib in the hamptons.

Boys In The Hood Sell Anything For Profit...

Thing is, everyone these days is straight hustlin'. If you're not, someone else is, and when you get out hustled and you're washing the other guys Benz, then you can only blame yourself.  This surely does not violate the I'm A Man Before Anything (heretofore "IAMBA") clause, it simply is the number one tenant (George Tenat, aka "Slam Dunk" anyone?). That tenant is Get Your Cake Up ("GYCU"). Whatever moves you are making that are in the direction of G[ting]YCU, they are completely and comprehensively covered under the IAMBA clause (and any and all subclauses). What follows is a story of a bona-fide Up and Commer, and how he is AMBA and trying to G[his]CU. A simple lunch meeting with some established players in the game, and how he showed, indeed, he is AMBA:

[13:04] Up And Coming Lawyer: had an iced tea, unsweetened
[13:04] Up And Coming Lawyer: and the 12.95 Wednesday special
[13:04] Up And Coming Lawyer: not the cheapest thing on the menu, so they dont think i dont respect their money
[13:05] Up And Coming Lawyer: but not the most expensive so they dont think im trying to take advantage
[13:05] Up And Coming Lawyer: it was sliced beef roast
[13:05] Up And Coming Lawyer: sides: creamy mashed potatotes and chives, 
[13:05] Up And Coming Lawyer: better choice than the fries so im not eating with my fingers, i mean what am I, a toddler?
[13:06] Up And Coming Lawyer: side caesar salad so they know I'm responsible, and like to have a little green on my plate
[13:06] Up And Coming Lawyer: the side salad shows i think about health, the beef shows that i'm a man, and no bitch
[13:07] Up And Coming Lawyer: I asked questions about where they were from, why they practice, and shared annecdotes on the following:
[13:07] Up And Coming Lawyer: living near Palm Desert (there is a real estate conf. there coming up, maybe I'll get to go, who knows)
[13:09] Up And Coming Lawyer: A cannibis dispensery case I'm working on (I didn't let my own liberal views come thru. I objectively laid the ground work, and they provided the commentary: makes them konw I'm open,but don't abuse drugs. Alley-ooping jokes makes them feel good about themselves, everybody wants that; power player or not)
[13:09] Up And Coming Lawyer: Bill came, didn't reach for wallet, or even suggest i would consider paying
[13:09] Up And Coming Lawyer: this shows, that I am worth it and I deserved the bounty put in front of me
[13:09] Up And Coming Lawyer: Game recognize game and the power players understand this simple rule.
[13:10] Up And Coming Lawyer: I don't motion to leave the table first, I'm ready to chat all afternoon, but when teh first player pulls out his chair, I quickly follow
[13:10] Up And Coming Lawyer: showing that I respect and appreciate the fact that I got this lunch, but now I'm ready to go and work
[13:10] Up And Coming Lawyer: All in all
[13:10] Up And Coming Lawyer: great success and they appreciate me as a man
[13:11] Up And Coming Lawyer: They are now all looking at assignments I can assist on when previously there were "none"
[13:11] Up And Coming Lawyer: Chris Brown said it best: "I work to(sic) hard to be ballin' on a budget"

A Question For Everyone Who Still Reads the Blog, or Maybe just FW

If you were a grown man, would you rather be which of the below. Please say which you chose, and why:


a) Not real cut at all, but you're a real strong guy. It is still obvious to all that you work out and obvious you have significantly above average strength from someone who does not work out and what not, but more near chubby than near what one would consider cut. In addition, people know you work out, you frequently have mentioned it and/or it is well known that it is one of the main things you do other than work. People often are wondering how you work out so much, yet are not that cut.



or


b) You're pretty cut up and you have a six pack and well defined back and chest etc. And while still strong, it is clear that you are not nearly as strong as a). It is obvious you work out, and equally obvious that you are in fact a good amount less strong than a) but overall more athletic looking and "cut". When it comes to a physical confrontation, a straw poll has a) winning every time (whether or not he indeed would be the winner). You do not have the reputation of being a "big strong guy" in the sense of advantageous when it comes to physical confrontations, whereas a) does have this reputation.


When a) is around people see this guy and think yeah, he is a force, and a powerful figure. b) is more unassuming as to strength and being strong, so actually faces a higher probability of having a physical confrontation. No one says or thinks that b) is a "strong guy."

Well which do you choose?

(Oh, and in addition a) pre-parties harder than b) parties.) 

Conference Call

Just got off the conference call and I feel like I really brought a lot to the table. Questions directed toward me resembled "do you understand what we're saying Robert?" and instead of responding "yes" I responded "I was thinking the same thing and yes that seems to be the best way to go about doing it after looking at different approaches." Another question was thrown my way "Robert can you do that for us?" which again I didn't give the one word response, because I wanted to show what a power player I am I said "Should be pretty easy to show some different scenarios, just let me know what objective you are trying to reach and I can handle the details." Were people put off by the length of my responses? Most definitely yes. Did it make the nearly 50 minute conference call that could have been about ten minutes slightly longer? Yup. But did I make it known that I was alive and competent on my side of the phone? Yes. Really making power moves at the work place and handling my business I'd say.

thoughts from work

The Blogmaster went to Newport Beach this weekend for his 47th birthday. Was a nice day and a nice time all-in-all. Saw some things that really put life in perspective. This is something of the opposite of going to Africa and seeing the suffering people of the world and wanting to do something about it. This is about seeing a particular portion of America who has won at life. For these purposes I am talking about people who have what would be considered a "ballin ass house" and "ballin ass car" and, what is particular to the people in and around the Newport area, a nice ass boat. Im talking 3,000 sq. ft or better, C class Benz or better, and 30 ft. or better. We're not talking here about having the nice four bedroom home in the suburbs of X metropolitan area. These people aren't VP's at John Doe Brokerage or engineers at Bush Lied People Died Defense Inc. We are talking about people who are capable of elite asset ownership in absolute terms. No matter how you define "elite" these people are included in your definition.

It's fourth of July, you invite your family over, I'm talking ~ 15 people and ~ 8 of them have their own bed to sleep in. You guys get up and you all make breakfast in the kitchen with the ocean view while the kids play in the sand out front. You've got a great backyard setup where your property reaches the ocean and/or you've got the yacht parked out back. When everyone gets ready for the day you load up on the yacht. Your hired deck hands take you out to the ocean and you bbq and live the dream for four to five hours with no destination in sight just taking in the freedom of the Pacific.

Things like this are what real ballin is about. If your family doesn't do things like this on the regular, or have some real fly things like I have described than the fact of the matter is your parents and family really didn't take care of business. If them flossing is having the home in shit stained Truckee or something like that, they really didn't take care of business. If they're driving the E350... you guessed it. If you go fishing on anything that can be ran by less than three people - same thing. If your family events are not similar to what goes down in Hyannis Port - then you really don't have much to boast about. The people in and around the Balboa Peninsula have, and you haven't.

I guess this post is real all over the place. But what I'd like to say that the American dream is about having nice ass things. Big ass houses, in nice areas, with nice cars and nice toys. You can't do this by moving to the burbs and doing it on the cheap. On the Blogmaster's birthday, he saw these things and saw how fly it would be to have these things. Might try to get some for his self... who knows...

NBA Draft Analysis

Now I will analyze the first four picks of the NBA Draft.

1. Kyrie Irving - Father grew up in the projects in the Bronx, played pro basketball in Australia and is a bond analyst for thompson reuters. His dad was an MVP at the Rucker. His dad was at the WTC on 9/11. His mother died suddenly when Kyrie was young. My models show that with these inputs the metrics show me that he will average 21.3 points this year and 5.72 assists.
2. Derrick Williams - Thing about this guy is he went to high school in La Mirada. Everyone know that's not tight at all. His game is real similar to mine so when I say things about how he will play this year I am pretty confident in what I say. Most likely he will not see the court this year.
3. Enes Kanter - A very sad story that turned out alright in the end. He's a great kid from a great family. The thing about this guy is he just wants to get his family out the hood and get them into America. He was part of the genocide that Bush II began and once he got to Kentucky he felt safe in Calipari's arms. Now he has millions and most likely will be able to help out all of his brothers and sisters (he has 7). His sister is one of the top amateur jai alai players and has performed well posting a 123.3 or less almost seven times this season. But back to the feel good story that surrounds Enes Kanter. 
4.  Tristan Thompson - This guy is from Canada so is not real good at basketball nor is he used to warm climates so I don't think he'll do well. He got lucky for most of his time in college and most likely will not do anything in the NBA because he will probably be too warm and is not generally very good. Only upside I see with this guy is that he doesn't really know much about basketball - mostly knows alot about hockey - and has nowhere to go but up as far as learning how to play the game etc.

They're Done

Just wanted to follow up on a post from last week. I don't want to say that I caused this to happen and really outed their relationship and maybe put undo pressure on George to ante up and marry the girl, but what I will say is that they are done.


'The atmosphere was pretty red hot and the language was pretty fiery - it was a very fierce row and she then just stormed out of the house and went to Milan.
 Read More

Looks like before anything, George is a man, and don't want to be forced into anything.

Recent Performace

Well, I have altered my strategy and sought out some much less risky investments in my sporting venture. I'm on something of a roll here which feels good, though I am still ridiculously in the hole. But in the last 18 hours or so I have won four straight:

(954) Pittsburgh Pirates +102 Wed@9:35a
(953) Baltimore Orioles vs. (954) Pittsburgh Pirates Over 7½ (-115) Wed@9:35a
(955) New York Yankees vs. (956) Cincinnati Reds Under 9 (-115) Wed@9:35a
Risk US$ 1.00 to win US$ 6.06

(954) Pittsburgh Pirates +102 Wed@9:35a
(953) Baltimore Orioles vs. (954) Pittsburgh Pirates Over 7½ (-115) Wed@9:35a
Risk US$ 1.00 to win US$ 2.78

(2368) New York Yankees -1½ (+155) Wed@9:35a
Risk US$ 1.00 to win US$ 1.55

(928) Los Angeles Dodgers +105 Tue@7:10p

(929) Minnesota Twins +134 Tue@7:15p

(929) Minnesota Twins vs. (930) San Francisco Giants Over 6½ (-120) Tue@7:15p

Risk US$ 1.00 to win US$ 7.79

What's that? A quick $18.18? Yup. Easy. As. Pie.

"Look At Me Now" - A Discussion

The title of the entry is not a ploy to attract the ever dwindling active participants in this blog to regain interest. Rather, it is the name of a popular song of the hip hop variety. The song features legendary quick-tongued rapper (pause. No homo) Busta Rhymes (not sure if this is a moniker or his “government name”, more on that later), Ex-con/self-proclaimed “Goblin”, Lil’ Wayne, and the young man that loved too hard, Chris Brown (affectionately referred to, Chris Breezy).

This stellar cast came together to demand that the world “Look At [them] Now”, and look we did. All of this looking prompted fans to hit the internet searching for more of this song (as if the radio was playing this little gem enough, right??). In comes, the youtube.com renditions and the point of this entry.

Now, it does not have the most hits by far but it is the best video out there. Why? Ultimately, everyone wants to be with “that girl” with the gun. VH1 has the clever marketing strategy using the motto, “Watch and discuss”, and that’s exactly what this video is about; watching, salivating, then discussing. Some popular discussion points that occurred while watching the video 23 times this past weekend with some friends on the DL (separate discussion, blogmaster?).

1) Who is this girl?

That inevitably is the first question asked. Who is she that she has nearly 500,000 views? Is this an actress, a model, a god? The answer is all of the above. After much diligent research was done, we found her name, “Shauna Naiz”. She is a “model” (aspiring after looking at her portfolio, but a model non-the-less”. Now that’s outta the way, on to the unanswerables. She is from/lived/or currently lives in New Wales. Is she Aussie? If so, where is her accent?

2) Who is filming this?

This may produce the most conjectures on the subject. The running theories: a) someone that she feels very comfortable with. Comfortable enough that she will allow someone filming her for an extended period of time with no levels of detectable shyness. 1) a long-term boyfriend may fit this requirement, 2) a trusted gay friend (he would never betray her, right?).

If you notice in the video, the cameraman is appearing to stand in front of a reflective glass door that the viewers can see while the camera switches from Shauna to the TV. Upon very close examination, the cameraman remains unseen. 3 more theories: 1) He is simply standing in a location where the mirrored glass can be seen but not him; 2) He is so technically savvy that he edited himself out of the scene (like Kanye in the “All Falls Down” video; and 3) He’s a vampire (it does appear to be dark outside).

My own opinion: skinny white guy, probably boyfriend, maybe cousin.

3) Where are they going/have they been?

If you notice, Shauna looks pretty dolled up (at least up top). She is wearing a nice blouse, make-up down, etc. However, she is wearing leggings. Theories:

a) She is pre-gaming with a friend and that is possibly why her inhibitions were so low to film this in the first place. Problems; there are no bottles/cups in the shot nor in the reflection of the aforementioned mirrored glass door.

b) They have just come back from a night out. Inhibitions still low and make-up on. Leggings are now on because she wants to get comfortable. Only problem is that after a night out on the town, a girl’s make-up will be smeared; Shauna’s looked pristine.

4) What game is she playing and what is the difficulty setting?

This is by far (at least should be) the most unimportant question that could be asked. The answer: Who the Eff Cares? (Sorry Arthur, I know that you really would like to know).

Will Shauna ever decide to “take her talents to” Los Angeles and give the whole model thing a real try? Who knows? We can only dream. The most important question is an all encompassing one. Does it matter? The questions can go on and on ‘til infinity but the point is to watch and enjoy.

My own conjectures have led me down the path of obsession. “Look At Me Now”. Well Shauna, mine own eyes are glued. I’m a lookin’, and I’m a likin’.

Some more comments on being a real man

I wanted to briefly share the experience of my dinner last night. It mostly happened organically - but the end result say may consider an act of Providence. None of this was forced which really emphasizes my last post. Dropped the roommate off at the bike shop so went to go get some gas in the meanwhile. Got to the gas station, realized I needed milk for my cereal. Noticed the price of the milk at the gas station was pricey. Trying to save money. Went to the CVS, saw the sign for "Snacks and Cookies". Realized I was real hungry so I might like a snack. Grabbed the milk (the 1% fo' like 2.49? Saved the 50 cents? yup.) Walked to the snack aisle. Saw they had the Cheese-Itz 2 FOR $4. Picked them both up and bought them (although I must admit that they had the Lays buy one get one free for 3.99 but I like Cheese-Itz alot more and they are good for your strength <did back and shoulders at the gym directly prior to this experience>). Went to pick up my roommate from the bike shop and ate 1/2 the box while waiting. Not feeling too hot. Roommate apologized for making me wait so long and said he'd pay for my din din. Where did we go? McDonalds. Two McDoubles on da house.

Yup.

Thoughts from a (real) man

Being real, and being a man, is the only thing that matters. Some might say it's most important for a man to "be a man before anything." Now exactly what that means precisely is up for debate. To define it broadly it involves doing things that are associated with being masculine. If you have to debate if what you are doing (or not doing) is masculine or not - you're probably not a man before anything. Do you have to go out of your way to solely subscribe to being a man type activities? If so, you're breaking the other rule of thumb - being real. Going through the motions and establishing your manhood in a way that is overtly not you, is the negation of any behaviours you exhibit that done in a organic manner would prove you are a man before anything. These things cannot and should not appear to be forced. Are many of them unnatural and only caused by not instinct, but well thought out planning? Yes. But the goal is to minimize the appearance of these effects. An example might help.

"Hear about Rory Mcllroy this weekend?"

The answer to this question has two, and only two answers if you consider yourself a man before anything.

1. Honestly man nah, golf is dumb as shit, I was at the gym (or insert other masculine activity). (What you DONT want to do is not know exactly what happened, how he struggled on the back 9 in the final round, or how that second par four was where the event was all but over. Yes Lee Westwood is a strong player when the weekend comes, but the data show that when hes not in the leaders group, hes done for the day. Rory, when he was 13, stopped using a swing coach, he has no psychologist, no trainer, no coach nothing - he might be a man before anything because natural talent > hard work in the quest to be a man before anything.
2. Yes, I did watch it. I've played at Augusta and at the Congressional as a kid <insert comment regarding your father's connection with the conservative movement> and those places are great to spend a Sunday. You can't tell <insert comment regarding something you wouldn't know unless you actually played there i.e. the type of tree that stands in front of the clubhouse, or an aspect of the bathroom>, but its really crazy.

These are a rough outline of some aspects regarding being real, and being a man before anything. Please take them with a grain of salt, and acknowledge that if you learned anything from this post - then you most likely aren't a man before anything.

Working

16:48 on June 20th in the 2011th year of our Lord - I begin working for the day. 

Oops

Due to small sample size issues, this does not give an accurate description of the strategy I am implementing. However, I thought it would be only fair to give the readers an insight into what I have going right now. If you notice, there is clearly a parabolic shape to the behaviour we have here, and it should pick back up back into what my models are predicting any second now. I'll keep you updated on these events and hopefully you'll see something very encouraging next time I get around to updating this data. Enjoy:

Is He Going To Do It?

What do you guys think? This guy gonna marry this broad? The end of an era? One of the greatest runs that man has ever known?

What do you guys know about this lady? Also, have any of you guys been to  Il Gatto Nero in Cernobbio, Lake Como? Is this in the United States or does Clooney never eat in the United States as rumored? Any dishes you guys recommend from this restaurant?

Morning Process

I figured many people would like a little insight into my morning process, so I will describe it briefly. I wake up circa 7:40 (One caveat is that I have been attempting to get up at 7:00 and do either a) eat some breakfast <cereal until I ran out of milk two weeks ago, and now oatmeal> or b) eat some breakfast and do a brief workout <said workout consists of pull ups, push ups, and sit ups, see image:)

Anyway, I get in the car and plug in my phone to charge. I don't charge my phone at night like alot of people do because I find that extra effort when tired at night a bit too trying to plug it in. I strictly take the streets to DTLA because the 10 is a nightmare! Roll into work circa what 9:00? (another caveat, at some point I would like to make a concerted effort to begin to get here at 8:45, but I have not been successful at that thus far) Sit down at the desk, load up the desktop, and check the email. Usually the solid 4 - 5 emails of which maybe one directly pertain to me. After that immediately hop on the instant messenger and right to the net. And thats pretty much it, I'm on the net doing research on things and generally observing the net's behaviour until someone says otherwise.

fun fun fun fun

short story

Woman with young daughter at a nice restaurant on a Friday evening. A jovial party of ten young adults dine separate, but adjacent. Mother tells waiter to start her off with a nice glass of wine. Normal enough. The young adults continue their dinner. The young girl orders something resembling a kids meal and a glass of juice. Another glass of wine for the mother - this time white is the grape of choice. Mostly silence between the two. Nearby the larger party discuss the latest movies. The party of two's meals arrive, and the mother asks the waiter to grab her another glass of red when he gets a chance. The young girl eats her spaghetti quite contently, fidgeting as kids of that age do. Nearby a member of the larger party drips a bit of his latte on his pants and the young girl observantly notices how his friends joke and prod him for that. Then the waiter brings out a desert plate and the larger group erupts in an ode to one of the friend's birthdays. All is fine on this night. The waiter delivers the next glass of wine to the mother. Then the waiter returns with a small desert with a lit candle for the young girl. The mother bids her daughter a happy birthday while finishing the last of the most recent glass of wine. Some of the more observant members of the larger group notice these events. They contemplate singing the young girl happy birthday - but decide against it. The mother struggles to gain traction as she tells her daughter to hurry up that its time to leave.

The tail of two birthdays.

The Job I Would Like

An analysis needs to be done on what I am trying to achieve. My dream job provides all of the conditions contained in either of the two below sets:

1. Time for sports, other articles, and good compensation (and prospective future compensation)
1. I want ample time to read a good amount of things regarding sports during my day at work. I'm talking equal to or greater than fifteen articles a day.
2. I also want there to be time to read things regarding other areas of interest to me equal to or greater than ten articles a day.
3. I want to make good enough money that I can treat myself, and occasionally my friends and/or family to experiences and items of both necessity and luxury: (in order of most important )
1. Never have to worry about making my rent in a dwelling that has more than one bedroom and is within a mile of the ocean.
2. Never have to worry of the implications of purchasing a pay per view fight of something that I attribute a five on a scale of 1-10 of interest to me.
3. Everything in my home was purchased new or 
1. was purchased within one owner of being new and when purchased by first owner new was a price that I would be unable to pay
1. unable in this context means greater than half of one month's net income less rent/housing cost.
4. Pay for guests when I chose to at a dinner that has servers.
5. Never have to give pause to purchasing something due to the financial ramifications
1. This is heavily discounted by the underlying assumptions that my consumption behaviour is widely controlled by a level that is widely considered in relative terms - quite low.
1. However, I do correct for this by allowing standards on which I hold my self to appreciate quite substantially at a near 1:1 rate with net income.
4. Pay for the costs of my heirs' "living costs" at college.
5. The ability to take time off of work to do things that are widely held to be not substantial
6. Own a car that costs more than 50,000 and payments of which are less than 10% of net income
2. Make more than 100,000 by the age of 28 and thereafter:
1. Measured at four year intervals have increased income by 50%

Curious Investments

Also, back in the betting game. Took a few days off to clear away the bad luck, but now I'm back in it. What do we have on the table? Two morning games, Reds -1.5 and Giants -1.5 parlay 1.50 = 6.58. First time I have done a parlay under three ways, so probabilities significantly better than anything I have faced recently. What will I do when I win you ask? I'll take said winnings, add 1.50, and put it on a three way parlay and let it ride!!!

Taking one for the team

It seems that a person can never make it big, meaning get real rich, without doing some scummy things. Is it worth "taking one for the team" under these circumstances, and being that person who has to do those things, for the sake of being able to take your friends and family along for the ride? Is it in fact correct to consider this "taking one for the team"? This is not a clear cut conclusion given that the definition of these circumstances involve a life of nice houses, nice cars - pretty much material excess of all kinds. Not a bad life at all. However, the downside to this is what I mean by "taking one for the team". In every movie the rich guy always seem to have done something, does something, or will do something that will compromise all of his material success and ends in a tragic manner. Is this a function of it being entertainment? Is the life expectancy of rich people significantly less than the public at large? Is the quality of life really an internal struggle between good and evil for those who are the richest in our society? Was a ma fucka lyin when he said mo money mo problems just to discourage people from tryin to get on his level? Was he hatin? The question I struggle with is should I go down whatever path it takes to live a fantasy life style, and allow those closest to me to do the same while they possibly do not face the same moral dilemma when going along for the ride. Or are they too complicit in the acts if they get to enjoy the finer things in life because of me.

The better question seems to be: Is this really a decision that I will ever have to make? Haha...Clearly its no. That ship has sailed.

American Politics

11:42 AM American One: we watch fox business channel or some shit here
its great

11:43 AM American Two: ya the fucking republican cronies in the media just spewing nonsense hahahaha. they should tune into NPR for some real insight

11:44 AM American One: hahahahhaaaa
funny as shit

11:45 AM American Two: at what point in life did it occur to u that u r smarter than most other people?

11:47 AM American One: yeah, a funny thing to say
the classic conservative mentality
that the liberal elites are trying to tell us how to think!
their fucking lattes
their fucking volvos
"we're the real authentic americans"

American Two: an interesting interpretation

11:48 AM American One: continue on their moral crusade against gays, atheists etc
while getting fucked by the moderate republican party
11:49 AM who has outsourced all their jobs, and gave themselves tax cuts and broke the unions who employed them
good job guys!
less government for us here in Topeka so that we can just live our lives!
not joining the progressive cause to help you out!

American Two: a fascinating diatribe!!

11:50 AM American One: government never does anything right!
thats what reagan told us!
deregulation!

American Two: a passionate tongue in cheek outburst!!

American One: its wrecked my life personally, but I'm all for it!

American Two: cutting to the core of the issues!!
11:51 AM in a satircal manner. juxtaposing the absurdity of the republicans stances against the havoc they have wrought!

American One: How come the moderate republicans are the succesful ones? Because they accept that all these things the conservatives hate, well they aint profitable concepts.

American Two: i dont even know what the fuck ur talking about. but i like it!!

11:52 AM American One: Being PC? Not for us! But the establishment realizes that it makes money to be PC.
conservative cunts, wrecking their lives by rallying for causes that serve to make the rich richer, and weaken their own position in life.

11:53 AM American Two: hahahah
u need to get the message out
they need to know
u have found the way and the truth. be the light of the world

American One: guns! they want to take our guns! (although they'd also like to help provide you health care that your republican led industries have cut from you)

American Two: hahahah this is amazing! all the pent up suppressed things are bearing fruit here at the end of spring

11:54 AM American One: their trying to raise the estate tax! (although we're poor as shit and will never have an estate to bequeeth to jim bob, our son, and we could use some of the services that that revenue provides)

American Two: the key things im taking away here are democrats = help....republicans=take...is that accurate?

11:55 AM American One: democrats have always been the party of the normal man, that the republicans have conned the working man that they are anything similar is shocking
11:56 AM the liberal media is ruining our society!
they don't care about family values!

American Two: my word andy

Rooster

Just saw a real live rooster outside the friendly confines of my downtown Los Angeles office. A real in the flesh (feather? hahahaaa) rooster. It brought prospective to my day at a very early hour.

New Fun Fun Fun Fun

First of all I would like to address the elephant in the room - the fact that no one reads this blog anymore (minus probably one or two people). Because of that it has essentially became something of an internet journal for myself. Hopefully I can look back at all these trivialities when I'm living large in about seven years or so and have a nice chuckle. Back when things were simpler and decisions for the day were more "mcdonalds or jack in the box" rather than "ferrari or lamborghini". More about "quality over style" rather than "ballin out of control". But all of this is neither here nor there, just an aside I knew I had to address.

It brings me to the chutzpah of this entry. My new foray into sports speculating. First and foremost, it is very fun. Fun in the sense that it makes you feel alive, and makes you very interested in the proceedings of a particular set of events. Money augments all. That is the finer point to be made, and what really separates casual interests, things you thought you were very into, and things you have a financial interest in. It's hard to be excited about the Tigers Royals game in late May, but lets say the outcome of that game plays a role in netting you a 1200% return on your investment. I'm sure you'd care then. What I have been doing began as a simple bet on the Champions League Final where I took the "dog" (underdog) at a price of +290. That means that my $1.00 bet would give me  $2.90 had it panned out. It didn't. And neither have any of my roughly five bets since. Yet I am not discouraged. Since then I have been wowed by the shocking return figures of parlays - and cannot stay away from them. I have created a google doc that allows me to compute the probabilities of what I choose to bet on, and via the multiplication rule you can see that parlays quickly become unlikely to pan out. It is someone comforting to me that the amounts I am now dealing with are never more than five dollars - I just enjoy the possibility of such high rates of return that I see, rather than an absolute dollar amount return. For me that is where the fun lie.

The only issue I have is that now I am doing this every day. Not only that, my quantity of bets made is strictly a function of how many games are played in a day, and if they are clustered in a manner that allows me to see the outcome of one parlay before I make another. I think my attitude regarding amounts wagered and how I get my enjoyment out of it make this a little more healthy of an event than it would first appear. More importantly, who knows? Maybe it will take me down a very dark path! That's why its exciting!

Stay tuned!

Lunch Today

For those of you who don't know, the best part about my job is that we get lunch brought in every day. Well, to be precise, we get lunch Monday through Thursday, and breakfast on Friday. The quality of food definitely varies, but luckily today is going to be a good day. Mendocino Farms. One of the highest quality sandwich makers in the City of Angels. There is something of a strategy to be the first into the lunch room to get the best sandwich picks. Usually we eat at 12:00 on the dot, but on these special days you'll see people creeping in the direction as early as 11:30 or so. It's something to look forward to. It's real cool to not have to worry about what you are going to have to bring or buy for lunch, and somewhat puts a floor on the quality that you might eat if lunch was fully up to you. So yeah, thats the best thing that is going to happen to me until I get off work. What about you guys? What are you looking forward to for the rest of the time before you're leisure time sets in?

Cool Day at Work

Memorial Day Weekend is upon us 'yall. And in the working world we know there are alot of ways to truely take advantage of this federal holiday. Number one way is to either take Friday (today) or the upcoming Tuesday off. Or both! This is advantageous because it can be shown that vacation, time off, and leisure in general does NOT experience decreasing marginal returns before 9.3 days. In fact, the behaviour of the returns to days off is best modeled with a quadratic and maximum at the aforementioned 9.3 days. Days off experience strong increasing marginal returns before this point. It must be noted, however, that this result is often muted by what could be called the impending workweek effect. Maybe you have experienced this if your friends have, at the pinnacle of your Friday night fun (whether that be a rousing game of fifa, or a smashing good time walking to Yogurtland) said something to the affect of "Only 48 hours 'till the work week begins anew!" So please take this impending workweek effect into account when analyzing such things.

Another strategy to take advantage of long weekend is to increase the weekend length while not using up those precious (or not so much in my case!) paid time off days. This is simply leaving work early on Friday (today). In my office this is usually the case as we close a tad earlier on days directly preceding holidays. The quittin time today was initially 3PM. Then promptly as I arrived an email was circulated indicating quittin time was 2:30. Within an hour I was invited my a manger to take part in a "late lunch" circa 1PM at a local pub. In effect, that will be the end of the day. Whether it is the de facto quittin time or actual fact, is to be seen. I will take the lead of those who make more than I (yes those people do exist!).

Coffee Break

Went on my daily coffee break right now. It's a nice day outside and via yesterdays post, you know how I feel about that. So I won't beat a dead horse. But was a nice walk to the local coffee bean & tea leaf. Got the small iced coffee with the (no-sugar) vanilla powder. This was most likely not the best decision. The small coffee is 1.79 I think and the regular is 2.00. The flavored powder is 0.50, regardless of size. So essentially I got something near half the amount of coffee, and saved ~ 0.20. Not a victory in my mind. Decided to step up my coffee intake because the summer is coming up and I heard that caffeine helps fat transfer aka gettin me cut. Hopefully my discussion regarding Facetime, goes into effect soon and I can get out of here earlier than normal.

Family Portraits

Just had a nice talk at lunch regarding family portraits. Don't know how I feel about them other than people appear to be strong armed into getting them done by their significant other. It would appear with the advent of digital photography there were enough photos of everyone to go around that you wouldn't need any of the professional type. Haven't really looked into the business model or what kinds of returns these guys are getting. In connection to this topic it came under the branch of "things planned to do this weekend." So I suppose when you have kids and are married this is the pinnacle achievement of the weekend. That being said, I don't have anything that would be deemed an accomplishment set up for the weekend. Maybe read a tad. Possibly go to the batting cages. Play video games.

Interestingly enough my life is pretty sick because I do things that when I was a kid I really hoped I could do. And I'm doing them. Are these achievements by any adult standard? Bar a few, most likely not.

Facetime

A curious concept permeates the modern workplace - known as Facetime (aka "Face Time"). It is the result of a desire by subordinates and managers alike to be more dedicated than the next to the company cause. It's definition is being at work for the sake of being at work, not to achieve a particular gain in whatever a given company produces. My opinion is that it is ubiquitous among companies that maintain high profit margins. This is the result of strong barriers to entry, strong emotional ties with clients, or some other market inefficiency. Otherwise, Facetime would be replaced by a) actually doing work in lieu of Facetime or b) when there is no work to be done - going home. But neither of these exist in practice. Some mention must be given to the concept of moral when there is a large deficit of work. People don't want any more explicit acknowledgement of a dearth of prospective revenue or other type of results of work and effort. Also it must be mentioned that substantial shifts in time and work allocation are probably not the best way to structure an office atmosphere. That being said, the ebbs and flows of workloads I imagine can be managed by most people with a high degree of autonomy. A further analysis probably reveals that if this were the case, remote and work from home type setups would be more common - and possibly they increasingly are. But to be precise, what I am addressing here is just a situation when there is no work to be done, and people still working ~ the same hours.

However, the above discourse is not the point of this post. This post is to discuss the more curious concept that I have witnessed regarding gaming this system and something of a negative-feedback effect that is related. My boss likes no one to leave before he. Fine. I can deal with that and indeed regularly subscribe to his need for this subordination. Regarding arrival time there is no analogous system in place. To be succinct - he does not require everyone to arrive before he. So the following situation has arisen: people show up substantially after him, and this later arrival time is not offset completely by the subordinates later time of departure. To compensate for this he has been leaving increasingly (and regularly) earlier than before this phenomenon had began to really be capitalized on. This is a net gain for me. I arrive later - and leave earlier than I would otherwise. Game theory at its finest? Some might agree.

Thank you Professor Thomas Ferguson.

A Nice Walk

Today I ate lunch with a little bit of haste. The haste was to ensure I had ample time to smell the roses as I went on an afternoon walk. It is a beautiful mid 70s day here in downtown Los Angeles, and it would be a  waste to spend the whole waking day indoors. So I meandered on down to a little local park on the campus of some small trade school about six blocks away. Water cup in hand, I was in no rush. After the roughly ten minute walk I found myself a bench to sit down and just watch the people walk by. It was comforting to notice that I wasn't the only office dweller who had experienced a similar inspiration while click-clacking away at my computer screen. I wondered to myself, how many different responsibilities did each of us have - yet we all yearned for the enjoyment of a simple late spring day and the feel of sun on our face. We all knew that in short order we would be back inside - staring at the outdoors of our window (those of us luckily enough to have a view to the outside world). There were no revelations reached by any of this cohort. Rather, just an appreciation of what is here and now. At most, one would acknowledge that they'd wish they were able to enjoy more of this sort of excursion - but we stop short at any real effort to bring this to fruition. I took a brief nap and further escaped the world that I know so well inside my office. A dream within a dream, if you will. And then I was awoken from them both and am here back in the office doing things that aren't as rewarding, but that fulfill a tangible role in life. One that allows me to experience the joys of a more existential journey.


It is often said, if it wasn't for the rainy days - we wouldn't appreciate the sunny ones.

Brief Post

Sorry for lack of posts guys. I've been real busy in my life and everything. But this caught my eye and I needed to share. Please discuss below:

Doan Arrived, Osama Died.

Well whats done is done. This was something that many of the "Illuminati" of the Blog had known for a while was in the works. But, for obvious reasons we weren't really allowed to address or speak upon. If you'll notice many of the comments seemed to imply something like this was going to happen. I'm not going to be the one actually describing the sequence of events of this thing - because we have a source. A primary source. Please turn over to your main media outlets to hear what you can find everywhere. If you want to know the REAL play by play from....the MAN WHO KILLED OSAMA HIMSELF?!!!!... then this is the place to be. We all know that two things happened:

1. Doan Arrived
2. Osama Died

If you put those two things together you will see exactly this is going. Ill give you something of a preview by using some previous movies that describe how the follower of this very blog killed osama: The Matrix. Passion of the Christ. Scarface. The Bourne Ultimatum. Mission Impossible (The one where Tom Cruise pulls off the fake face showing he's someone else). The Sixth Sense (You'll see). And the Wizard of Oz.

I don't want to give away too much. But, you'll soon see if our guest grants us the privilege of his first hand account of how he orchestrated and carried out one of the most famous covert operations since the 13th century. 

Thoughts on Breakfast

I want to briefly address a few issues. First off, Jack In The Box (heretofore "JITB") is underrated all around. I am talking breakfast, lunch, and dinner (shout out to Colin Farrell). But what I would like to talk about right now is breakfast. They had (more on this later) going a promotion that was two of the croissant sandwiches for three dollars. To begin that's an absolute steal as McD's competing product, the two sausage mcmuffin with egg deal comes in at 50 cents more. A substantial markup. In addition JITB's offering comes in a croissant. This factor should not be overlooked. By any measurement it is more of a refined, grown up meal. Croissants take a very pedestrian anything - and instantly add sophistication. On top of these subjective benefits, the flakyness of the croissant adds alot to the overall product. In summary, the croissant breakfast sandwich (I prefer sausage) is a great product, that meet or exceeds the competition in every way.

However, when I went in this morning to pick these two bad boys up for only three dollars, a truly shocking event occurred. For the many reasons I outlined above, this offering was truly unique in the fast-food breakfast sphere. They offered what I consider a superior product - at a lower price. This is no longer. The kind lady at my local JITB told me it was just a promotion, and was over. Now, it was almost $3 (US) to get just one of these sandwiches. I was taken aback and needed time to step away from the situation to come up with an optimal decision. As some of you know, out the window and across the street from my local JITB is a McDonalds. I felt the pull. But I stayed strong. In truth, the two sandwiches were too much for me many mornings. One would definitely suffice. I still find it valuable to eat less calories and get a good sandwich for approximately $3 (a quick check of the receipt says $2.95 after tax). So all said and done I save about 30 cents and get a better calorie intake for it.

Now on to other day off activities.... Please add to the list a car wash.

Another Day Off?

Yup. Another. Already up and running on this one though. Alot on the plate today but the main things I want to accomplish are:

• Do research on the NFL so that I am able to participate in work conversations. Particularly I want to have a working knowledge of teams, divisions, quarterbacks, best performers last year., and implications of the draft.
• Go to the gym - summer time is fast approaching yall
• Baseball stuff
• Do some reading on many different topics
• Go buy some vans - I purchased one of those grouponesque things and I get $20 off at WSS. If I see some nince nikes, might pick those up too.
• Wash my sheets - haven't washed them in roughly a month

This list is very fluid. So far I have turned on the tv and am straight chillin on the couch so we'll see how this goes.

The End of Politics

On this blog anyway. No more. No more sassy comments regarding the left or the right or Bush or Reagan or Obama or anything. Nothing. No comments about the political sphere whatsoever. This blog is not about politics, and furthermore I don't care about them. It is driving the audience away. No body cares. That goes for guest bloggers, commenters, and even those thinking about these things while at my blog.

Let it go. Let's move on

Funny convo I found on the net

Hey guys, found this conversation on one of those websites that posts funny/dumb conversations that happen on the net. Thought I might share because I think you guys would find it hilarious as well.

[16:05] bro#1: need to find the answer to min arg {caloris} given a level of drunkenness

[16:06] bro#2: first comment on that matter that the internet had for me

[16:06] bro#2: windsurf83

07-16-2006, 03:00 PM

drink beer with a straw, not sure if it is more healthy but it gets you fucked up faster because you take in less oxygen.

[16:06] bro#1: hmm

[16:06] bro#1: wonder if thats true

[16:06] bro#2: the response

[16:06] bro#2: Carbon Copy

07-16-2006, 03:09 PM

Yeah, but you also risk looking like a serious pussy.

thats what i was thinking. id rather be chubby than look like a pussy. i look like one already

[16:07] bro#1: i dont wantt olook chubby

[16:07] bro#2: tortoise

07-16-2006, 03:23 PM

for beer, highest amount of alcohol per calorie is miller light.

we determined this before going to DMB this summer because my gf wanted to get drunk but stay as close to her diet as possible.

but liquor has a much, much higher amount of alcohol per calorie and is far prefered if you don't mind drinking liquor. Bacardi Rum has the least calories that I know of.

[16:07] bro#1: i was

[16:07] bro#2: some great comments

[16:07] bro#2: really?

[16:07] bro#2: yo skinny ass?

[16:07] bro#1: not fat by any means

[16:08] bro#1: maybe birth

[16:08] bro#1: something like that

[16:08] bro#2: ok well most kids are

[16:08] bro#2: conensus seems to be plain alcohol with diet soda

[16:09] bro#1: aight

[16:09] bro#1: soda is purely for taste i assume

[16:09] bro#1: as extra calories with 0 alchy

[16:09] bro#2: ya well if u can just drink the liquor by itsel thats better

[16:09] bro#2: but thats generally gross

[16:10] bro#2: unless ur trying to spend $ which is dumb

[16:10] bro#1: i wonder what the equation to minimize is then

[16:10] bro#1: want to minimize both dollar and calories

[16:11] bro#2: and max taste

[16:11] bro#1: i would heavily discount that variable

[16:11] bro#2: id say diet cherry coke with the cheapest rum per alcohol u can find

[16:11] bro#1: but something like that yes

[16:11] bro#2: coke when purhcase in 2 liters is nearly free

[16:12] bro#2: get a handle of cheap rum for what $20?

[16:12] bro#2: handle = 40 shots?

[16:12] bro#1: need ~ 4 shots to get drunk prolly

[16:12] bro#2: na

[16:12] bro#2: more

[16:12] bro#1: more?

[16:13] bro#1: well dayumm

[16:13] bro#2: i was going to say 7-8

[16:13] bro#1: dahhhhh

[16:13] bro#1: hell no

[16:13] bro#2: to tie on a legit buzz

[16:13] bro#1: no way man

[16:13] bro#1: not me

[16:13] bro#1: cant tell if youre jokin

[16:13] bro#2: (my last 6 google searches are real sick)

[16:13] bro#1: dont think ive ever taken 7-8 shots

[16:13] bro#2: "how many shots in a handle"

[16:13] bro#2: "least calories to get drunk"

[16:13] bro#2: "how many shots does it take to get drunk"

[16:13] bro#2: shot approx = 1 beer

[16:14] bro#1: nice

[16:14] bro#1: what kind of beer

[16:14] bro#1: because a legit beer, prolly 5 get me drunk

[16:14] bro#2: 4 beers would not be near drunk

[16:14] bro#1: given relatively empty stomach

[16:14] bro#1: yearrhhhh yer a real bro!!!

[16:14] bro#2: of course depends on speed consumed

[16:15] bro#2: 5 beers drank fast maybe yea

[16:15] bro#2: 5 over the course of like 2-3 hours, hell no

[16:15] bro#1: if i have relatively empty stomach (which i have done last many times i have drank in order to sae money) and have 5 shots in ~ an hour, im drunk

[16:15] bro#2: lets say 6 shots to get drunk

[16:15] bro#1: probably couldnt even do that many in an hour

[16:15] bro#1: okay

[16:16] bro#1: (also been going to the gym and getting more muscle mass, not sure how that effects the analysis)

[16:19] bro#2: 6 in an hour would be a lot

[16:19] bro#2: im thinking a more standard 1.5 to 2 hour period

[16:19] bro#2: nice bro

[16:20] bro#1: okay

[16:20] bro#1: and optimal drink is rum + ?

[16:20] bro#2: no i dont know what optimal drink is. not a consensus

[16:20] bro#2: but a handle could reasonably get 6 bros fucked up

[16:20] bro#1: i mean yeah of course

[16:20] bro#2: $20 + $2 coke = $22/6 = < $4!!

[16:21] bro#2: i avctually dont knwo what a handle costs

[16:21] bro#2: cpt morgans $23.99 + tax

[16:21] bro#2: research gives range of about $17-25

[16:22] bro#2: so id say u could get a crew of bros drunk for $4 each

[16:22] bro#2: which u could do with 2 40s as well i guess

[16:22] bro#1: dat option needs to be explored more often

[16:22] bro#2: little cheaper

[16:22] bro#2: lot less gross

[16:22] bro#2: but yes

[16:22] bro#1: less bloaded

[16:22] bro#2: should always buy handles

[16:22] bro#1: bloated

[16:22] bro#2: over 30 packs

[16:22] bro#1: lot less calories!!??!?

[16:22] bro#2: eh not a lot less

[16:22] bro#2: but more alcohol for little less

[16:23] bro#2: guess 36 pack of coors at costco is like $25

[16:23] bro#2: that might be cheaper

[16:23] bro#2: theres no reason to ever spend more than $5 to get drunk

[16:28] bro#1: not alot less calories?

[16:29] bro#2: na. 1 beer has approx same amt of calories as a shot. a little more

[16:30] bro#2: Regular Beer: 150 calories

Light Beer: 116 calories

Ale: 126 calories

Stout: 178 calories

[16:30] bro#2: Brandy / 80 Proof Gin, Vodka, Whiskey etc.: 98 calories

86 Proof Gin, Vodka, Whiskey etc.: 105 calories

90 Proof Gin, Vodka, Whiskey etc.: 111 calories

94 Proof Gin, Vodka, Whiskey etc.: 116 calories

100 Proof Gin, Vodka, Whiskey etc.: 125 calories

[16:31] bro#1: damn

[16:31] bro#1: rum?

[16:31] bro#1: thought the idea was to min calories.. thought it was an easy call..

[16:31] bro#2: sam shit

[16:32] bro#2: easy call?

[16:35] bro#1: thought you were saying that liquor is a better bet for the calories

[16:35] bro#2: oh. its slightly better but nothing grea

[16:35] bro#2: t

[16:37] bro#1: okay

[16:37] bro#1: anything else you wanna add to the analysis? caveats etc?

[16:38] bro#2: if ur trying to get cut and get drunk, ur probably out of luck. if u want to minimize negative effects of drinking id say go w diet soda and liquor

[16:39] bro#2: but as history has shown, ur commitment to fitness/health is moderate at best, and we can expect ur current body to remain essentially unchanged in the near future

[16:40] bro#1: okay

[16:40] bro#1: cool

[16:40] bro#1: mostly because your analysis yields there are no low hanging fruit to be had here

[16:40] bro#1: healthy/cheap options to gettin gdrunkk appear to have been arbitraged away here

[16:43] bro#2: are there any healthy options disregarding price?

[16:43] bro#2: dont think so

[16:48] bro#2: so should focus on cost effective

[16:48] bro#2: and that involves me buying kirkland brand alcohol this weekend

[16:54] bro#2: what does "numerosity" mean?

[17:01] bro#2: whats your favorite jewish song?