Testversation

A testversation is when you slip some small detail or inside joke into a conversation (most likely with new acquaintances) to test their knowledge or, more likely, mindset, sense of humor, etc... My favorite example of this was when I was at a social gathering with several new people (also my Fiancee) all of which were taller than I was. When someone crassly pointed that out, I said, "I feel like I'm in level 4 in Mario Brother 3." I was surprised that everyone got it, but with that joke landing they passed the test and I'm pretty sure I can assume other things about them from that one slice of information.
Another great example of this is when talking about food and restaurants throw out some names like Thomas Keller. Although he isn't anywhere as famous as Rachel Ray, knowledge of Keller tends to be associated with a high level of foodie-dom.
This is not to be confused with aggressive opinion stating, or AOS, which I also do when I say things like, "There is no God." or "Organized relgions are evil."

Thus I coin the word- "Testversation"

It's not November, but Baracktober!

Needless to say, I'm very happy that Barack won the election. We still have some bitter folks out there, but hopefully the dems will not screw this up. Either way, I think Mr. President-Elect has a big weight on his shoulders. I don't think any president in recent memory has had the hopes and dreams of not only a nation, but a planet pinned to him.
I've seen pictures from around the world of people celebrating his victory, but as he said - we have a lot of work to do. I hope he can rally Americans and the world to work together for a second and actually improve our lot on this planet.
I also think that most of this hope is because so much was lost under the Bush administration and so much has changed since Clinton - the world is a different place and we need a different man to lead.

This game rocks! Fallout 3

I'm usually not one to really rock out to a game and write about it, but Fallout 3 is probably one of the best games I've played in a long time. Better than GTA 4, better than MGS 4, etc... It isn't all action, but more role playing - like Oblivion - which I never played, but it awesome. A quick synopsis:
In 2077 nuclear war broke out and many people went into underground settlements called Vaults. You were born there. You father leaves the vault (no one leaves), and you follow after him whilst uncovering it may not be at idyllic as once thought (surprise). You come out to an awesome wasteland with human settlements and bad guys and mutants, etc. Anywho, it is awesome.

Oh man, he better win.

After last night's good (albeit slightly cheesey) infomercial, Obama should finally get through to some people. I got some shivers towards the end listening to him speak, so that was a good sign. However, I also get shivers listening to Jimmy Eat World's "Drugs," so maybe I'm not the best shiver-o-meter. Anywho, if he doesn't win I'll be so sad - McCain just sucks in comparison. He had his chance so please step aside.

I'm going to a "Election Results Party" at the Hardrock on Tuesday night (readers are welcome, rsvp on Going.com) so I will be so miserable if he doesn't win! Go Obama!

Ladies - I am your friend...

So the other day, I'm riding the T - deep in thought, and a relatively attractive late-20s chick sat down across from me. Most aspects of her appearence seemed in place and in line with trends, so I couldn't hate... However, as I stood up to get off (and she did as well) I saw a rather large mustache! So to all you ladies, one behalf of men everywhere, please take care of your facial hair.
My lovely Fiancee and I were at CVS she was getting Nair for her legs, I noticed they had both "Bleech" and hair removal cream (both made by Sally Hansen). I was shocked they had bleech, this isn't the solution. If you think that isn't noticable, just ask yourself this:

Does Ru Paul look different with his bleech blond wig on, or bald? Of course he does! Also, if you're not sure - go out and do some removal anyway - that way you'll know for sure.

I've said my peace for mankind, but men also should take care of nose and ear hair - no excuses guys, not when we put the pressure on women like some sort of power-crazed stage mother.

I've been busy, but I didn't create the financial crisis...

So, you've probably heard about this impending crisis, and they bailout. We pay some amount to buy debt and nationalize companies who were too leveraged to live. When I worked at Sowood, no one bailed us out, we lost a lot of money and then returned what we could to the investors. So we're going to buy crappy mortgage backed securities (MBS) so that financial firms don't have to have them on the books - all with your tax dollars. Hmmm.... sounds like the financial firms get the sweet deal. Here is my alternative, but first a quick lesson on MBSs:

An MBS is basically a pool of mortgages that get put together and then you can buy certain amount of this pool, just like a bond fund. Since the value of this security is based on the payments (mortgage payments by you and me) when the likelihood of default goes up, the value of these go way down. If there is a default, the security is worth little to nothing. This is oversimplifying to a point, but that is the basic idea.

Some sources say this is going to cost 700 BILLION dollars, sooooo rather than using this to buy the MBS, which is basically distressed debt, why don't we give it to the people who took out those loans in the first place? Follow these quick and easy steps:

1) Sub-prime loans were made, securitized, and are now held by many financial institutions. When the risk of default goes up (which is has), those institutions have to write down the value of those securities, taking a loss.
2) Those financial intuitions are all linked to one another and as the start to write down and make margin payments and so on, they run out of money to make payments and profits, so they turn to the gov't to bail them out.
3) The gov't should say, "No Way. You lobbied for lax regulation, exemptions from leverage requirements, and kept it up rather than being responsible. The American people shouldn't pay for your mistakes. But because of this, they are hurting, so we'll help them."
4) The gov't takes 700 Billion and pumps it back to people with mortgages, people in foreclosure, and people who were the source of the sub-prime loans in #1.
5) Those people take that money, and pay their mortgages, the rest is put in a national trust for those same people so they don't spend it on a new Hummer or Flat screen TV. Credit card debt should also be paid as that can be securitized as well and probably will default after the MBS do.
6) The people (with the mortgages) start to make consistent payments on their mortgages. These payments, plus the national trust, will lower the default risk of the securities and raise the value.
7) The financial firms will have value added to the books and will not be forced to increase their capital requirements with money they don't have.
8) Strict regulation about capital requirements, OTC derivatives, a new Swap exchange, and other will be created.
9) Main Street will keep their homes, and be able to pay them off.
10) Wall Street will keep their companies and their values without layoffs and a reduction in their lifestyle (well, some reductions, but boo-hoo).

How's that? Rather than helping the huge companies, why don't we help WE THE PEOPLE.

Astor & Black - Redux

So, 6+ weeks later I took delivery of my suits from Astor & Black. I must say, I love them. Despite the initial experience, the suits are awesome. The tux is exactly what I wanted and fits so perfectly. The suit is also awesome. As Aaron, the A&B rep said, "You'll never wear an off-the-rack suit again." He was totally right. It fits better, looks better, and I feel better. Two nitpicks were - they forgot suspender buttons on my tuxedo pants and they made my tux shirt out of the wrong color/fabric. The upside is, since it is custom-made - they just gave me the mistake shirt - which I am wearing now! So in 6 weeks they are going to fix my shirt, and my pants no charge. Word. I'm happy, but now I'm just sad I have to wear my other off-the-rack suit as well. Must make more money for sick custom wardrobe...

;

What is it with MS Word's love of semicolons? People (real writers too) don't use nearly as many semicolons in novels and magazine. Perhaps it is my start-stop-start-stop writing style that prompts the grammar checker to insert this punctuation. Anyone else have this issue?

Stupid Homozygosity!

So yesterday I was sitting in the Prudential Center Mall waiting for a colleague to come so we could meet a client (whose entrance is inside the mall). I sat around for about 20 minutes whilst waiting, and did what I love to do - people watch. At 10:10 in the morning, there aren't too many people in the mall, but there were some: People who work in the nearby office buildings, people actually shopping, and tourists. I noticed that several groups of tourists would pass by and go into the stores I was near (Aldo & Arden B.). What I found odd is that they were all American tourists with tweenage and younger children going into generic mall stores in another part of the country.

I've always thought that the point of going on a trip is to experience new things - unfortunately (and I'm not at all the first person to say this), the chance to experience new things (if you're a shopper, this means new places to shop that don't exist in your market) is dwindling. However, if you are a tourist, and you decide to spend your out-of-town money at the same mall stores you have in Columbus, OH, then isn't it really your fault there aren't any options? You're reinforcing their business model by buying from them...

Either way, the mass homogenization of the shopping landscape in America sucks, but the American consumer's need for the familiar also sucks - perhaps more.

Oh Snap! We just might avoid the new Dark Ages after all!

If you check this survey, it shows people are finally figuring it out. Maybe this oil-man president doesn't have your best interests are heart? Maybe he is all about whoring out our country to the oil companies. I think people are finally getting it. Let's just pray the gas prices keep going up - there seems to be a corollary between gas prices and reason.

PS - No more survey results for a while, I promise.

At least we're talking about it!

Well, I've been saying it for a while now, but I do think that the country is broken and can't be fixed. I think the people in the "Disagree" category of this survey suffer from what the world views as one of the USA's best qualities: Optimism.

This survey is a Zogby survey that finally starts to address that people are not happy with our republic. I think it is broken and we are in the end days of the empire. Anywho, I brought up to my bud Brian that we now have the technology to eliminate our representative democracy - everyone can vote on everything, 1 vote for 1 person, none of this electoral college crap so Ohio and Florida decide who the president is. Also, I'm would be pissed if good ol' Massachusetts left the USA - actually the whole Northeast Corridor should become its own republic sans rest of the states!

Has the Retard-In-Chief admitted something?

I saw this on Digg, but this is footage of our stupid president saying that the financial crisis is Wall Street's fault. Now, I don't think anyone in this administration has put such a fine point on it, but watch this video - apparently he didn't want cameras there. The crisis in financial markets is Wall Street's fault - and congress's for the lack of oversight and regulation. Since it is Wall Street's fault, they should have to take the losses and public money shouldn't be used to bail out these companies. No one bailed out Sowood when we went down for our mistakes, so no one should bail out Lehman or any other private bank on the cusp.

http://politicalblog.abc13.com/

Pickens Plan

I saw this on one of our corporate TVs as I was walking into my building. I think it is one of the best ideas I've heard for a first step in energy Independence. Lots of people talk about what we could do if we had all wind, or if everyone had fuel cell cars, but that first step isn't really talked about. Boone Pickens is a multi-billionaire and he sees a profit in us changing our energy paradigm. That is how we are going to change our country's energy future, with the profit motive. Green is good, and this is just a first step. Also, I admit that NG vehicles may take longer than 10 years for a full national fleet turnover, but it is a first step. Also, I think focusing on NG would keep the oil companies in the loop and, as we've learned from the seven years, nothing gets done in this country without the oil companies...

First time with Astor & Black

So I'm having my tux made by Astor & Black for my wedding. They come to your house, take your measurements, get your fit, suit options, and what not and send the measurements to a tailor in Hong Kong, then send the pieces of the suit back to a master tailor to be assembled for you. I needed a new suit as well, so I figured I would try them out. Although I was expecting something more professional, I'm still pretty happy with the experience.
When the tailor showed up at my place, he brought his 4 year-old kid. I wasn't overly happy, but he said his wife was out of town and had to take him with him. I would have liked an option for another time without his son. He (Aaron) told me that if we turned on the Red Sox game, his son would be quiet. I decided to indulge him and we turned on the TV. However, this had the opposite effect as his son started to bounce off the walls in the second inning. I think Aaron told his son to be quiet about 100 times and it did start to get really annoying after about 5 minutes of constant chatter.

Aaron talked to me about what I wanted, what style, options, and pretty much every detail of the suits and showed me fabric swatches. Told me some stories about his other clients, and did what he needed to do well. The price is unbeatable for a bespoke suit as well. I am having Zegna fabric for my tux and suit, so if I bought one off the rack it would be a minimum of $2,000. I pend less than $1,600 for both! I liked the personal attention, he didn't pressure me into higher prices, and he was very personable. All in all, Aaron was a good guy, but when he comes back with my suits, I'm going to politely ask that he come without his child. I really don't like kids and I don't think I should have to suffer them whilst spending $1,600. Any readers have a good way I can ask him to come solo via email without sounding like a douche bag?

What does your drink say about you?

I usually eschew the link-posting for more of my scintillating original content, but this one is pretty awesome from Modern Drunkard. Take a look and see what your drink says about you.

Click Me

The Smelliest Bar in Boston!

That's right, Gypsy bar is the smelliest bar in Boston. I know when hot, sweaty bodies get together there is bound to be some rank, but this was OOC. From the front door to the entire dance floor, there was BO to be found within the confines of Gypsy bar. Not only was the music terrible, the crowd pathetic (many solo AFCs trying to make a go of it on the floor & many stupid bachelorette parties) but people everywhere had BO. I was shocked as this used to be a good club. If only Felt had been open to non-guest list folks tonight I wouldn't have had to write this post.
In an effort to spread the news of this smelly club, please send the link to this post to as many people as you can and digg it if you do that kind of thing. The club-going public must be informed!

Take that crappy southern hiphop!

I've had some choice words for southern hiphop over the past couple of years, but recently even worse music has come from the south. I love hiphop, I really do, but if you put Jay-Z's music next to some of the recent stuff (Webbie's Independent anyone?) it is like night and day, and the recent rise in craptacular hiphop is only going to make more people write it off forever. I am apparently not the only one who feels this way - please read this small article on Ice-T's feelings!

http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.7135/title.ice-t-tells-soulja-boy-to-eat-a-dick

Fashion No-No - Suits with Backpacks

I saw this one on the T this morn and decided to make a note to the world. Wearing a backpack with your suit makes you look like at best out of place and at worst, partially retarded.

Seeing people wear a backpack reminds me of my days back in Freshman year at Babson. Ah, the floors were sticky with promise back then, but I digress. For our first presentations of the year, most students wore their first suit. Although many committed other egregious fashion sins (see here), this one was all over the place. Before anyone had a briefcase, they had backpacks, so the wore them with their suit.

I refused to do this and would carry my books to class rather than looking like some bizarre cross between Quasimodo and Bud Fox. So to all of you out there with backpack and suits - get a briefcase, or at least something with one shoulder strap. It will help your suit maintain its shape and you'll look and feel better!

Disingenuous Dress

Just a quickly - I find it very disingenuous when people roll up the sleeves of their dress shirts, only to leave their tie tight and top most button in tact. This is a common tactic of the politician, pundit, and stock guru to show they are "relaxing" or "working hard." BS - if you were really relaxing, you'd loosen or take off your tie! To see this in action, check out McCain and Obama on the stump and Cramer on TV.

Take that Auto Industry!

So I've made the switch. It was a huge decision, but I feel great about it. No, I'm not talking about Folger's Crystals, but Zipcar.
For those who don't know - it is a car sharing service - and you only pay for what you drive. Need a car for 3 hours on a weekend? Just use Zipcar... http://www.zipcar.com/ if you want details because I don't feel like doing it here.
Anywho, I cashed in my old 1995 Chevy Blazer after its most recent mechanical failure for 100% Zipcar and I feel liberated. I don't pay for gas, I don't pay for insurance, and I don't pay for parking! HA! Of course, I don't have a car either, but I do have access to many. That is the rub, I can't just drive on a whim. On the flip side, I think this will push me to use the T and even walk some! Whilst running the numbers for Zipcar I noticed a trend with my monthly expenses. They are all service subscriptions:

Rhapsody

Cell Phone

Netflix

Gamefly

Zipcar

I prefer this to the depreciating asset model of the automobile and because I don't drive much, it makes financial sense for me. When you own (outright) an old car, you usually have two options:

1) Keep the car and deal with stream of payments that increase in both size and frequency as more time passes. I suspect this may be exponential to some degree for very aged cars, but without any testing, I really can't say.

2) Buy a new/used car and deal with a new, stable stream of payments that turns into #1.

Now with Zipcar - there is a third option. This only works for the city dweller and T user - sorry everyone else, but population density rocks and the suburban sprawl sponsored by GM & Ford sucks.

Is this it for Windows?

So since Vista's release, Microsoft has been having problems, but I've noticed a convergence of a couple of trends in my life. I think these trends, and my participation/consideration of participation in them signals trouble for MS. I'm sure I'm not the first person to say this, but I feel I'm more of a "regular consumer" than I am a technophile - or at least less of one than most and this puts me more in line with what "most" people are going to do... That being said - here are my observations:

1) The rise of web application. Lately I've noticed how you barely need applications on your desktop. Web apps are so rich that most of us can use them for what we need and never have to install anything. Photoshop Express, Google Docs, Google Calendar, Animoto, the list goes on and on. I'm sure they will not replace hardcore installed functionality, but it is like the electric car. It isn't for everyone, just 90% of the users.

2) Apple's Halo Effect. The oft mentioned halo effect of the iPod/iPhone has people running to buy a Mac. I was even considering this, until I looked at the price. Regardless, people love Apple's design and what they are doing with their OS. Also, the iPhone's new SDK sounds like it is going to wipe the floor with every other cell phone SDK, furthering the halo effect.

3) Rise of Linux. I'm not the first person to get Linux, but I'm probably one of the first "regular" people to do so. My old XP machine was a slug on XP (P4 1.4gh w/ 512mb ram), but with Ubuntu and Firefox it is blazing fast! Now, getting all the drivers can be a pain, but now I use that computer! Also, combining this with #1 - there is no real need for the MS compatible apps because they all work in Firefox. All the problems I've had have been solved (almost) by the huge community of people who back the Linux framework. People spend their time on this in a huge way. I've had problems installing Real Player and Netflix on demand doesn't work - but it is a trend, not an endpoint.

So what does all this mean? It means I have a narrow field of vision and I'm certainly leaving some things out, but hey - it is just my viewpoint. Either way, I think we're trending away from MS. People are getting sick of a 5 minute boot time and all the hassles of Windows. People are starting to look at alternatives, and in the case of Apple - they're voting with their dollars. In the case of Linux, they are voting with their time - which is money, right?

If these trends continue, and I think they will, I can't see how MS will wiggle out of this without having Windows 7 be the best OS ever.

Family, ah family

So, this past weekend I took my loverly Fiancee, Sarina, to meet some members of my extended family whilst one of my cousins was getting married in NJ. As if my nuclear family wasn't enough, she had the pleasure of meeting all of my aunts and uncle on my mom's side. Apparently this gave her even clearer picture of where select traits of mine come from.

Apparently my significant weight loss had quite an effect on some of my cousins, so much so they wouldn't have noticed me! That is pretty bad considering my two older cousins haven't seen me in years, so they have a persistent image of their fat little cousin. I'm glad I've gotten past that part of my life.

Of course, because we were in NJ for a wedding, our wedding was the topic of many conversations. My favorite being when my mother told me I have to invite my other cousin(because I'm inviting her sister, whose wedding it was, and father and mother). Although I now agree with her logic, that would be like not inviting my brother, but inviting me and my parents (incidentally that is who attended this past wedding). My first reaction when my mom told me, "You gotta invite her" was, "I don't 'gotta' do anything." Which has now become our second tag of our wedding:

Sarina & Brian

September 5th, 2009

"Plan the fuck out of this thing"

&

"We don't 'gotta' do anything"

Although I think it is important to consider family, I'm not very close with my extended family and Sarina and I are paying for the wedding, so everything is our decision and no one else's. Ultimately, I think these chain-invites (invite one cousin, you have to invite them all) have the opposite effect on me. If I have to invite all my cousins, then I'll invite none of my cousins! Problem solved! Eat that family!

So you want to cook?

I've been away a while - working - and a recent conversation that I overheard (and subsequently joined in) in the cooking section of Barnes & Noble made me write this post.

There were three folks looking at cookbooks this afternoon and I heard one of them mention that he hated cookbooks because they always called for ingredients he didn't have. I heard him say, "I never have fresh thyme and shallots just lying around." His buddy commented to him, "I think you could use some chopped olives for the shallots." This is where I chose to speak up, "Actually, I'd use onions for the shallots - and dried thyme for fresh time. Although, fresh thyme keeps for a while in the fridge." After that all three went back to perusing and I found a book on chocolate I started to leaf through.

As I was walking out I realized to cook - I mean really cook and make good food for yourself - you need to have a couple of things. The most important of all is commitment. I remember when I first started to cook, I had just given my Fiancee Ming Tsai's Simply Ming and I was looking at it saying the same thing, "Man I don't want to have to buy all this stuff!" And for our first couple of forays into this book, we spent some serious cash on spices and stuff I didn't have. But you need to decide that cooking is important to you, your food is important to you, and you'll go get the ingredients you need. Also, you have to have enough patience to make a menu and and use what you bought. I hate buying a cucumber and using half of it, so I'll try to have Seared Tuna with Soba & Cucumber salad within close proximity to Vietnamese Beef Salad (with cucumber). Waste not. For a more pedestrian example, if you like Asian food, ginger, garlic, and scallions are in almost everything! In addition to the will of really WANTING to make good food all the time for yourself, you need these things methinks:

1) A decent knife and honing steel. Get a Global, Shun, Henkel's, or Wustof knife from Williams Sonoma or Kitchen Arts on Newbury Street. A honing steel can be gotten for 20 bucks and will keep it sharp and straight. A good chef's knife - 8" - will cost you close to $100 bucks, but that is all you'll ever need. Ever! My Global's are all 5+ years old and still work great!

2) A decent saute pan and sauce pan. Same places and same deal, get good stainless steel pots and pans, spend some money, take care of them (clean well) and they'll stay with you forever. You may want a non-stick saute pan, but it will take a little bit of extra care (No metal utensils)

3) Most places don't say this, but a good cutting board makes all the difference. Plastic Target ones are great for cutting chicken, fish, or meat. For everything else, get a nice wooden or bamboo one. You'll have to wipe it down with mineral oil every once in a while and you can't put it in the dishwasher, but it will keep your knives sharper, longer, and give you a nice big space to work on. Don't chop garlic on it! It is a pain in the ass to get the smell out of the wood. http://www.johnboos.com/ are great and you'll notice them on the Food Network a lot.

You're ready to cook - now just buy the ingredients and remember these things.

1) You'll always need onions, so just buy the bag. Everything, and I mean everything, starts with onions (shallots, garlic, scallions, and leeks are all part of the onion family) and fat. Olive oil and canola oil are the old stand bys, but butter is the best. Don't use cooking sprays as the lecithin used as a stabilizer creates a gross buildup on your new pots and pans.

2) Just buy the jar of spices! For things like thyme, garlic, salt, cumin, coriander, chili powder, and oregano just buy it. You'll use them eventually and feel free to substitute the dried for the fresh if you have to.

3) Get a account at http://www.chow.com/. There are videos on who to cut an onion, message boards on where to get your knife fixed if you dinged it, and what is a nice place to get some brunch. The people on there can be great resources. I know, because I'm on there.

After you start cooking a little bit, you'll find out what you like and start to cook more of that. I like Asian and southwestern flavors and guess what - they're pretty similar. I got Marcus Samuelson's cookbook on African cuisine, and it was also pretty similar. You'll find out what you can substitute and what you can't and within the first couple of attempts you'll have a success on your hands. For me, it was a Chile-Tea Rubbed Salmon with Lemon Scallion Rice. Once you make something great, you'll be hooked. Happy cooking to one and all!

Friday @ 4pm

Ah, it has come at last. Not that my job is bad, quite the contrary, but I'm looking forward to nice weekend. This is right around the time when the thought of the weekend is the best - you haven't wasted any of it playing GTA IV, or going to the grocery store, but you're still at work with the all the possibilities in front of you. Of course, it isn't as far away as Friday morning or Monday morning, so you can really look forward to your own time.

Have a good weekend all!

Sleep works

So yesterday I left work pretty frustrated. I found it difficult to get my hands around some .NET project I was working on. Accessing Excel using VSTO from vb.NET is hard, and I don't have the vocabulary yet. The real problem was knowing where to start, but I fumbled around all day yesterday, couldn't sleep last night, and finally got to sleep after some late-night blog-reading.
What I did notice when I came in today was how much clearer everything seemed. I saw this thing on the discovery channel about how sleep is a necessary part of the learning process - that is basically when our brain writes everything down and makes sense of everything from that day. The example on that show they use is soccer playing, but I've noticed it in other things. Another good example was playing Rock Band - stupid I know, but going from Medium to Hard is difficult - real difficult. You can play all day long, but not get anywhere. When you come back the next day, you can notice the progress in your skills! Makes me think we should institute nap time in the corporate world - we could come back all learned and everything!

Wedding Groupthink

Argh, My beautiful Fiancee ordered a "tea-stained" dress for a large wedding we are going to on May 30th. She thought it may be too light for a wedding, so she took a picture of herself and sent it to her buds on theknot.com message board to get their opinions. 100% of the girls said she shouldn't wear it because it is too close to white.
My freakout was there are all these rules: You can't wear anything close to white - only the bride may do that. You can't wear a bright color - you'd pull attention away from the bride. Some even say black is bad, because it can be interpreted as morose.

As long as you're not wearing a white gown, I think you're OK. I think some of these women on this board have fallen into wedding groupthink. It is very silly to think that one of your guest's dress could be a big issue unless you're a freak. Dear readers, I ask you to be the judge! Here is the picture from BCBG.COM in which it looks whiter than it is in real life!

Readers=BriLac

Book Review: Deluxe: How Luxury Lost It's Luster

About two posts ago I mentioned the book, Deluxe. It was a great read and a well-written expose on the luxury industry and what is changing in that industry. Basically, the premise is:
1) Here is where luxury came from. Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Pucci, all these designers were artists and craftsmen that made their particular item exceptionally and their clientelle was the super rich.

2) Over time, corporations started to buy these older brands and focus just on making money. In turn, the growth demanded by shareholders served as a motivation to find a way to make more money. The emergence of the handbag is probably the biggest event that changed the luxury market. With huge margins, but cheap enough that the middle class can buy, the big luxury conglomerates had found one new way to sell the dream of luxury to everyone.

3) This "luxury for everyone" concept is watering down the idea of luxury and more crap with a good name is making it's way onto the market.

4) True luxury still exists, but man is it expensive. Hermes bags are a great example. This book has a detailed description of how they are made and it is astonishing.

All is all, the book is very interesting and it certainly points out a new facet of our society. It seems now that "Luxury" is something everyone is selling. Some people come from the bottom up, for example: The big watch made by Invicta - who the hell is Invicta? Some places take a traditional luxury trend (such as large watch faces) and just try to hop on board. You can also to do luxury from the top down - the old way. Make a product with exceptional skill, artistry, and love. If you've got talent, you product and its design will justify you ridiculous prices - example Christian Louboutin.

It is a fascinating book and the need to make ourselves special, or convey that to others, will always be a part of humanity. I guess if you are going to spend the money, do some research and make sure you're actually buying something made in Europe or that has some love behind it. Coach has been making their bags in China for a while - and no one seems to mind. I guess that is the power of the trend, which they kind of just chalk up to marketing. I'd like to have a little more faith in mankind, but alas - the proof is in the pudding.

Lessions Learned from a Cocktail Party.

This past weekend, my Fiancee and I threw a oh-so-hip cocktail party. It was a rousing success (if you went and disagree, please comment) but that doesn't mean it was without some areas that could use improvement. So, Sarina and I are determined to be the "us" in imprusvement. It is in my nature to find the "errors" and fix them, to make the next swaray (and there will be a next swaray) even better!

1. Don't get so much booze. We have a tremendous amount of sauce left - not so much beer, but lots of hard stuff. It isn't like it has a shelf life, but I got a little carried away at the packy. On the upside, I've already done the shopping for the next two or three parties!

2. Make sure what you, yourself, are going to drink is top shelf. I pinched pennies on the gin of the night, and was rewarded with waking up feeling like hammered shit. I did hear the Ciroc vodka was fantastic though - so those folks didn't have a skull-splitting headache at 9:30 AM.

3. Pitcher drinks are your friend! I made a pitcher of mojitos and it flew right out of that pitcher with limited work for me. Although the first batch was wicked strong, I stand by the idea. For next time vodka gimlets, cosmos, and mojitos will all be in pitchers so people can shake, pour, and drink. Next time there will be ice, shakers, and glasses in front of 3 pitchers and a laminated sheet of directions. Not that I don't like making drinks, but I would have liked to chat it up more.

4. More food! I thought we had a lot of food, but I was wrong. I went over to grab some for myself and people had taken out most of the savory dishes. We may have had a lot of sweets, but my Fiancee's awesome summer rolls were gone in a heartbeat. So next time more savory finger foods, and definitely more cheese from Formaggio Kitchen. http://http://www.formaggiokitchen.com/

5. Make sure all the food is pleasing to the eye. I made eggplant caviar (like babaganoush), for a dip - due to the roasting process it comes out in a not-so-appetizing brown color. Also, the recipe called for lots of garlic and onions (raw) and it was rather aggressive in it's smell. On a crostini, it tasted really great, but it was a hard sell. In turn, this wasn't very popular.

6. Stupidly, I didn't get little paper plates - so we ran right out of plates pretty fast. Thank God for the "Rinse Only" cycle on the dishwasher.

7. Shrimp cocktail is a no-brainer. Make more of this next time.

8. Task someone with gathering glasses to be washed yet again. Because we ran out of non-martini glasses, I ended up pulling out some red Solo cups. Plain awesome.

9. More than one trash. The kitchen/bar ended up being a popular spot, so the trash was hard to get to. If we had another one by the food, it would have been easier for everyone.

10. Have some non-alcholic soft drinks. We didn't have soda, or sprite, or coke. That was a mistake, especially since it is so cheap. I had some soda water, but that went into the mojitos! I just don't think of soft drinks at a cocktail part. That is an easy fix though!

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate

So, my beautiful fiancee Sarina tells me that she read that this ingredient Sodium Luaryl Sulfate (SLS) was in my shampoo and she thought it was irritating her skin due to some some contact. She tells me about this and its cousin Sodium Laureth Sulfate. Apparently these things (along with Ammonium LS) are cheap cleansers and foaming agents. These chemicals are in pretty much all soap and shampoo, it is crazy how much of it is out there. Not surprisingly this is a chemical derived from, you guessed it: Petroleum! I guess in larger concentrations it is pretty unhealthy and can be a real irritant and increase the permeability of skin (which is bad) so my OCD tendencies all kicked in!

I did an audit of all the items that I use on a daily basis, it was in all my drug store products. AXE body wash, shampoo, conditioner. My nicer stuff (Zirh) didn't have this in it, so that was cool. AXE apparently has lots of untested ingredients and bad stuff for you - scary! But to find products that don't have any SLS in it, I had to go to Whole Foods to get some soap and shampoo there. I was surprised you couldn't find more organic-type options at CVS, but alas. Anywho, I made the change and it is a little more expensive, but it smells fantastic and works just as well (if not better)! The rosemary conditioner is pretty nice in the morning...

Here is an alarmist and possibly biased article about AXE body wash. Apparently they spent all their money on truly awesome ads rather than safe ingredients.

http://www.natural-skincare-authority.com/axe-body-wash.html

Is Luxury the new defensive stock?

So, I've been reading a book called, "Deluxe: How Luxury Lost it's Luster" and since our little recession, I've been thinking about that market. All you hear from the talking heads on CNBC or whatever, is that we are in a recession and consumer spending is going to fall off.

For those of you that don't know, a defensive stock is something that's returns are less (or negatively) correlated with the business cycle. The classic example is a necessity or consumer staple. So, CVS will probably do okay because people still need drug stores no matter what the economy is doing. Other companies, like Home Depot, will do poorly because no one will spend the money on rennovations and home improvements during a recession. This thinking is also applied to the luxury market. The assumption is the recession will make people hold on to their money (or they will spend less) because of uncertainty in the economy and job market.

Now, in the last 10-20 years, the super-rich have become fully entrenched. Think back to Goldman Sachs's crazy bonuses only 2 years ago, the rich are richer than they've ever been before. There are also more of the super-rich now than ever been before and those people do not alter their spending based on the economy. Ducati recently started producing new $15k+ motorcycles for this super-rich class and they are selling despite economic worries. The true luxury items will be unaffected by the economic cycle because the wealth of the super-rich is so great, their spending behavior is unaffected by a recession.

Now, where this may effect the luxury market is in the broader appeal items, like a LV bag or something. Luxury companies make most of their money off lipstick, perfume, bags, and scarves because these are the items the average consumer can buy to get, "a piece of the dream" as luxury industry insiders say. However, I don't think this will be as effected as most do. The demand for hot items from Louis, Coach, Dior, etc... is so high their demand may be more inelastic than say, new vinyl siding, or a new computer. As such, middle market consumers will buy these items because they want them so badly, they'll make it happen even in a recession.

Now this is just a theory, but perhaps it is a good idea to keep an eye on a luxury idex or LVMH, Prada Group, and Gucci Group in the market to see what happens. The Robb Report Global Luxury index is at 82.21 on 4/23/08 at 10:08 am. Let's see what happens through our recession. I'm betting it outpaces the Dow.

One or the other

So, I've met people that have flown all over the world, and been to lots of different places and I have only been to Italy, and that was with my parents! So I was thinking, with people in my age bracket, it must be one of two things:

1) You make lots of money and can afford to fly around the globe.

2) More likely, it is a case of allocation of funds and priorities.

So, I got to thinking - Sarina and I make decent money, why is it we never seem to have enough cash to go to Fance or Spain or something. After some musing, I settled on two reasons.

1) Our priority (relative to others) is on our daily living situtation. We eat fantastic food at home, go out to great restaurants a lot, and we spend money on clothing, kitchen gadgets, and Gillette razor blades. We love our apartment, and also pay for that place. So, rather than saving up and going on a trip, we spread that money across our daily lives in smaller amounts.

2) As a symptom of our lifestyle and spending habits, we would want the same in our travel destination. If we were to go to France or Spain, we would search for Michelin starred restaurants and I'd try to find some obscure cheesemaker, boutique, penmaker or something to buy when overseas. Since we are crazed consumers, traveling abroad is simply a multipier of this consumerism for us. So when looking at what it will cost us, my need for the best (or at least the good) takes over and I price myself out of a vacation to France because we don't want to stay in an "ok" Hotel, or go to "ok" restaurants.

All in all, I think this is my problem, I should just get over it - go to see the sights, go to local restaurants, get a regular hotel, and eat the exchange rate. But something about that just bothers me, especially if I did that and end up having a bad experience! Argh, what to do!

Oh my first retraction!

I must say, I thought I had found a great shave. I thought I had it figured out, but now I am running back to the corporate teat of Gillette. I had to buy a razor for my flight, since they don't let you take actual razor blades on a plane anymore. When I tried the Gillette Fusion, I got a close and, more importantly, comfortable shave. With the safety razor, I had to suffer through shaving my neck, and missed lots of little spots, but this bad boy did the trick.
My cheeks and under my nose could be closer, but the ease and significant decrease in irritation have proven Gillette may be right.

Perhaps, sometime, I'll go back to the safety razor, but not for now. My skin looks better and feels great as well! I will, however, not deviate from my Art of Shaving products as they are pretty great and I feel all old-timey whilst applying shaving cream with a brush!

Still, all that buzz about safety razors on the net must be about something, but maybe it just wasn't for me. I did like the price of those blades though. Everyone said it was supposed to glide across your face, but I couldn't get that right. Ah well - back to costco for Gillette blades!

Wedding Planning

As some of you may know, I am engaged to be wed to the loverly Sarina Chhay on 9/5/2009. As such, we have already started the rigorous planning of our wedding. Sarina and I want it to be bad ass, so we are going full-bore on the planning process.

After our most recent vendor visit to Mimosa Floral, I realized this is a really fun process - at least for most vendors. With the florists, you have these people who are shooting out ideas, showing you different flowers, and you get to have them make you something from scratch! When do you really get to do that any other time? With the linens and decor, you get a chance to really make a cool room design. Sarina is gifted at this and has been putting in the work (in dispassionate amount) to get our ideas (her ideas) solidified and monetized.

Now, the thorn in our side thus far has been "entertainment" or DJs. For some reason that "industry" draws the biggest tools on the planet. Almost every single one has a receding hairline and a goatee. None of them strike me as cool, about 90% comment on their ability to "read the crowd" and "get everyone on the dance floor." These guys don't want your play lists, want to be able to interact with the guests and get on the dance floor, and want to be the center of attention. I'm not even the bride and that pisses me off! No other vendor sees themselves in this light, it is ridiculous. However, I think we've found some that can take direction, play our music, and stay off the mic and away from our guests. In a wedding of 60 people, the last thing I was is some stranger in a bad tux harassing my grandmother.

I'm sure there will be more on the wedding on this blog, but all in all it has been fun so far! Check out the web page Sarina made for the wedding.

http://bharnett1825.googlepages.com/

Word!

A fitness milestone

Recently I've been going to the gym. Nothing crazy, just some quick circuit training followed by some light cardio. I've gone up in weight on most of my upper body exercises, but since - haven't lost much weight and (according to my scale) - haven't lost any body fat. - I can definately see the change, but none of the metrics and the stubborn existence of my belly were telling me that I wasn't making too much progress. Son yesterday - went over to the pull-up bar to stretch out my arms and tried a pull-up. Bam! I did one! Now I've always been the fat kid in gym class who could never do one. I couldn't even do one when - was really lifting a lot after college. I felt great about cranking two out later in my routine and now I feel like I can take on that rope climb as well. Perhaps I'll visit the local grade school and demand a go at the rope climb. Self Esteem here I come!

A cut above, or is that below?

So, after reading many articles online and depleting my stores of Mach 3 cartridges, I took the plunge and bought an old-timey safety razor. I got that and some matching old-timey razor blades from Details for Men – a site I found on the net. Many other places that extol the benefits of using a safety razor or “wet shaving” have been sold out of this particular brand and style. Apparently, Merkur in Germany has been selling these things with some success. The razor was 30 bucks, but ten blades were FIVE DOLLARS! I think one mach 3 blade is like 2 bucks or like 35 bucks for 16 at Costco – so there is huge benefit to using these razors right away. First I noticed it was smaller than I thought, but I was soon to find out how effective this razor could be. Articles on wet shaving online and reviews of the razor claim that you WILL cut yourself when you start using the razor. I guess most aren’t used to applying no pressure and really taking your time when you shave. Well, I cut the shit out of my face the first time. I’ve gotten much better and can now escape without a cut! I have read that the entire process is important, so for those of you who care:

Wash/Scrub while in the shower
Don’t dry your face when you get out\
Re-wet your face at the sink and rub in some pre-shave oil
Apply glycerin-based shave cream to your face with a badger hair brush
Shave with the grain
Rinse and repeat across or against the grain for a ridiculously close shave.
Rinse hot and then cold water
Apply aftershave balm – no alcohol
Whew!

Want to check it out?
www.classicshaving.com
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6886845/

I like it better than my old Gillette. It costs less, gets closer, and although it gives me some nicks from time to time, I’m getting better with every shave. So the internet was correct on this one, next up: I’m going to meet the deposed king of Nigeria! All he needs is some good faith money!

I know this is bad, but!

I have just started the fifth episode of Friday Night Lights on Hulu.com at WORK! HA! Yeah, there are about 3 minutes of commercials, but the picture is great and it makes these last couple of days fly bye. I actually found myselft reclining in my chair with my feet crossed watching this. I keep wondering why they aren't blocking the site! Anywho, on the flipside I would much rather be doing actual work and getting things done - but we all know why I am leaving, right?

$4 gas? WTF!

I saw this article on MSN, and in times of volitility, I noticed they like to scare up stories like this.

$4 gas: Yes, it's on the way - MSN Money

Either way, at over $100/barrel I see this as a very real possibility. I'm just thanking God for the T. I drive to Whole Foods and Shaws, and those are so close. So screw that gas! When it gets warmer, I'm walking!

A Whole New World of Time Wasting!

Just when you thought flash-based games, celeb news, tech news, the blogosphere, and YouTube weren't enough to get you through a boring day, Hulu comes along. This is the offical NBC/Universal (I think) site, designed to compete with YouTube and have an official outlet for their stuff. It is awesome. Commercials can be a little annoying, but we're all used to that by now. Check out this classic from their site...

Asian Market

For those of you who know, I'm an avid cook and gourmand. Sometimes the ingredients you want aren't at your local Whole Foods, so you have to go to a "ethnic" grocery store. The powerhouse of Asian grocery stores in Boston is Super 88. There is one in Brookline, Medford, and a small one in Downtown Crossing which I just visited.

These places are hidden gems. They have lots of produce, tons of Asian (duh) ingredients, and they are usually much cheaper than their Whole Foods counterparts (sometimes for the exact same product). I just picked up 5 stalks of lemongrass, a huge bunch of Thai basil, and 2 lbs of pho noodles for less than 5 bucks! The only downside is the inconvenience of going to another grocer, which usually wins out. That is why I suggest you make a run to Super 88 and stock up on things like Shao Xing, Rice Vinegar, Noodles, Sambal, Soy Sauce, and other things with long shelf lives. Then you have them, you saved some money, and you can go back in 6 months.

Although these places have lots of meat and seafood, I have to admit I haven't tried it yet. I'm not ashamed to admit that it weirds me out a little, plus they don't fillet, scale, and gut for you!

Tough Questions

I am making my way through a book called Confessions of an Economic Hitman. It is really interesting - about this guy who worked for a consulting company (called MAIN) that did economic and infrastructure studies in third-world countries to justify World Bank and IMF loans to these countries. He would skew and distort the reporting to justify huge loans that would insure most of the money would make its way back to Bechtel, Halliburton, and other US firms. The loan size, coupled with the bogus economic projections (provided by MAIN), would make it impossible for these countries to pay back the debt and they would be beholden to the IMF, World Bank, and their puppeteer, the US.

What this book brings up is questions of empire, consumption, and disparity. What I ended up asking though, is obvious:

• Do there have to be "have nots" to enable the "haves"? and the follow up to that is:


• Is that so bad when you live in the country of the "haves?"


• Is it so bad that our empire actively pursues policies that hurt other countries (I'm not just talking about militarily) for our benefit?


• What responsibility (if any) do we have to the rest of the world as citizens of the empire?


• Are we all responsible for the plight of the world's exploited because of our involvement (as consumers primarily) in the global supply chain?

I find it hard to believe that we need all we have. Not in respect to individuals, but in respect to our country. We can be more efficient and we can weed out corruption. I personally think there have to be "haves" and "have nots," but I don't think it needs to be in the current balance. The US doesn't need to spend $600,000 on each Tomahawk cruise missile, $137,500,000 for each F22 Raptor, and $200,000,000 on each Joint Strike Fighter. This money has a low economic multiplier, is concentrated among relatively few individuatals, and by the way, who are we dogfighting? I'm pretty sure Osama doesn't have any MiGs... We spend money recklessly and only strengthen the congressional-military-industrial complex. I think the more we can marginalize that construct, the more we can tip the balance towards global equality. Of course, all those old white guys in grey suits will have to be voted out first.

Animoto - so very cool

I'm sure I'm late to the party on this one (just like Facebook), but I think this is one of the coolest new websites I've seen. It takes pictures, either uploaded or linked to your Picasa, Flikr, or whatever site and creates a sick movie like presentation that is synched up with music of your choosing. This is totally better than anything I could have made on my own, and kick's your regular slideshow when it's down. Plus, every one you make will be different!

Here is a sample of me and Sarina:

I'm sure people already know about stuff like Animoto and I always feel late to the game on the sick new webware. However, should you like to see a badass listing of cool sites, check out CNET's Webware 100 - you can even vote on your favorites!

http://www.webware.com/

Faking It

I just came off a four day weekend and I have three days left this week until I can give my notice on Thursday. This morning my boss came into my cubicle and starts telling me about all the initiatives he wants to start. I found myself staring at him and nodding, but thinking about playing on the Internet, or how I can string this task he just gave me into an all-day project. I know it is terrible, but I have been on the way out for the last 2 weeks, and I just want to start something with some direction! ARGH!

Either way, it is funny how I have to pretend to be a diligent little worker bee in the meantime. I think I'm particularly good at this as my boss loves it when we agree with him. Not only does he love it, but he never follows up on any of those agreements.

For example, he said that he would schedule one of the three people in our group to recon some hedging issues that pop up on a weekly basis. I think he has said this about five times, but never any follow through. So, when I pitch that idea, or bring it back up, he thinks it is great. Then he talks about it for 35 minutes, and then has to go to a meeting, and never brings it up or follows through on the idea. Right now, I'm just killing time.

The Library and its contents

I have recently taken to spending my lunch time (I can do that now because I'm going to leave my job) in the Boston Public Library reading. After a couple of visits, I started to notice the library seemed to attract the oddities of humanity. Now, the guy who is into Star Trek, the girl reading His Dark Materials for the 12th time, and the ultra nerd brushing up on paleolithic botany, don't fall into this category (neither do I mind you). These are the types of people you'd expect to see in a library.
What I didn't expect to see was such a high concentration of people talking to themselves. In the last week, I've seen (or heard rather) at least two people every day in the library that are talking to themselves. And no, they aren't on cell phones. In addition to them, it seems like the library is a respite from the outdoors for the homeless, or those who look homeless. That is OK too, I guess. But in addition to the talkers, there are all sorts:

Guy reading who decides to pull out a blanket and cozy up near the New Fiction stacks.
Girl who asks everyone who is passing if the book they're reading is any good.
Guy who, instead of a briefcase, has a plastic garbage bag. (Not homeless, unless homeless people have cellphones these days.)

I started to think how different the library was from Borders. It has fewer weirdos, more Lattes, and newer books. What strikes me is how it seems that everyone has been fooled by Border's. The Library lets you read these book for FREE. They even let you renew online! Admittedly, I used to be the guy (and my Father was as well) who loved to collect books and have them on display to show everyone how smart I am. But there was a small problem with that: You never read the book again! Border's charges you for the books, has nicer digs, friendlier staff, and less weirdos. That is all because they need you to come back and buy more books! The library would prefer if you didn't come at all, or maybe just one book from time to time because it would cost them less. Since they don't make any incremental money based on your reading preferences, there is no incentive for the library to be a comfy and cozy spot for you to read in.

Step 4 - Weighing The Decision

This step is the critical moment. Is this new preoccupation going to be something you dedicate your precious mental (and perhaps chronological and monitary) resources to? I find when I'm gettting into something, I really have to step back and say, "Is this really what I'm into?"
A great example of this is my recent foray into shoes. I did the research, found the nice old school brands, found out how to take care of a pair of $300 shoes, and then dropped it all in favor of Johnston & Murphy's on sale.
An even better example was my brief interest in import tuner cars. This was obviously ill-fated from the get go as I was driving a dilapidated 1987 BMW 528e. Anywho, I bought lots of magazines, read tons of internet articles, started looking for a used car, and then decided this investment into a depreciating asset was not worth it at all and I would not fit that scene - especially in MN.

I don't know why to drop one over the other, probably monetary committment, but I find that smaller inclusions into my dilettantery are much easier than a lifestyle shift. Pure knowledge of a subject and simply following that subject is a great way to widen your knowledge (and convo topics) without spending the money. Greentech is always something I've been interested in, and that information is all out there, and all for free! Thank you CNET!

Book Review: When Genius Failed

Quicky review on this one - The book is about a hedge fund called "Long Term Capital Management." This was a badass fund in the late 90s that did bond arbitrage untill the blew up spectacularly. They had Myron Scholes and Robert Merton (of Black-Scholes-Merton option model fame) on staff. They killed it for a very long time with 25%+ returns. They were over leveraged and the spread widenings in credit after the Russian default started a collapse of the fund. The Fed stepped in when danger to the entire financial system was predicted by LTCM and their counterparty banks. It was the Fed's influence that got all of Wall Stree to participate in a bailout for LTCM. They had billions in assets and TRILLIONS in outstanding derivative's notional.

Anywho, this book iscrazy. The money is nuts, and this type of thing still goes on. How do I know that? Because I worked at a hedge fund where the SAME EXACT THING HAPPENED. We had similar strategies, and less leverage, but Keynes's quote rang true:

"Markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent."

Anywho, the book is a great read even for those outside of the industry. There is not complex jargon and it gives a good insight into the fund and the minds of some of the traders. The books makes some points about the Fed's and the Wall Street bank's irresponsibility to finance and allow hedge funds to run unregulated. I found the big difference between my old employer situation and LTCM was the market was able to absorb the vol and our losses much more easily and without the Fed's influence. My fund was a much nicer place, but we got nailed on a credit crunch with similar strategies.

Fried Goodness

Hello again - here is a quick picture of yours truely enjoying some of the finest food New York City has to offer. Although we ate dinner at the three Michelin star Le Bernardin that night, we returned to A Salt & Battery the next day for lunch #2. American's can't get fish & chips right (even in Boston! What is that!), and these transplanted Brits certainly know what they're doing. It was awesome. Go there if you can - 13th & 8 ave area of NYC.

Interesting read

I saw this article on CNET.com about how the image we all have of the shady guy behind the computer stalking your children and lying about his age may not be all that correct. I found this really interesting because I was pretty sure it was a shady guy behind the computer lying about his age and what not.

I've said before to people that these sexual predators will never really go away, and untill they do something illegal, it is hard to really get them off the streets/net. This suggests that it is really the parents/family that need to hammer home the point not to talk ot strangers on the net or the street. From a cursory read of this it seems the curiosity about sex may be getting the kids on the net talking to strangers. Maybe if that curiosity was satiated by rational, mature parents instead of a puritanical health class in grade school, kids wouldn't seek out the cousel of shady dudes on their computers.

Just a thought, interesting stuff though - this internet thing just keeps on changing.



http://www.news.com/Study-rejects-Internet-sex-predator-stereotype/2100-7348_3-6231050.html?tag=nefd.top

Worse than Moon Boots

High Fashion is wierd. Wierd like Modern Art. If this isn't evidence that high fashion threads are clothes for a small amount of very silly, very rich people, I don't know what is. The only thing that comes to mind is "Derelicte!"

Job Market

I remember my first foray into the job market. I'm not talking about my brief but awesome stint at Bruegger's Bagels (0-Cream Cheese in 1.8 seconds), I'm talking about my post-college days. I had the benefit of graduating in 2002 - worst job market since the depression. So I didn't (and still don't to some degree) know what I wanted to do, and the market didn't want me, but now the market is good. I've accumulated some contacts, I have more experience, the cache of a failed Hedge Fund on my resume, and a nice starting salary - but alas, I'm not happy in my current role. A quick email to an old boss and 2 interviews later I find myself with a job offer! I love it when things like this work out - and I'll make as much or more than when I worked at ye olde hedge fund!
Not only will there be more money, but I think they'll will be career direction! Gone are the days of studing for (and failing) CFA, now I can concentrate on client interaction and learning more programming. Not to mention this gives me a nice excuse to pick up some new shirts and ties, and maybe even a new suit or two! Well, I'm in a good mood! Me and my lovely fiancee are off to New York on Friday for a whirlwind gastro-tour and all is well in the world!

Let's just hope a bus doesn't hit me as I leave my building tonight - I'll be extra careful!

Step 3 - Telling Others

I think this is the critical moment for the Dilettante - the point where this subject matter becomes part of the overall portfolio of knowledge, or passes through to the banal area of "I don't care." A great example of this I don't care, would be sports for me. I can barely remember people on sports teams because I'm just not that into sports. Either way, this part of the process is where said Dilettante starts to tell others of his recent "discovery." Now, if you have a wonderful, patient, and loving Fiancee like me, she'll tolerate you telling her about it all the time, but if not - you must find a ton of people to tell about your new British dress shirts, or new old-school razor, how much better digital coax when used in a home theater, etc...

I believe it is this evangelism that cements the knowledge in the head of the Dilettante. By telling others (and hopefully getting a positive reaction) about new NAND memory or why you hate real orchid plants, the Dilettante becomes committed to a viewpoint. In turn, those facts end up forming a larger portfolio over time of facts, figures, and opinions about a great many things. So next time some annoying guy in a pink shirt tells you about the difference between 2.35 and 1.85 widescreen and changes the topic to why Pharrell's "In My Mind" album was so awesome - you may just be watching the Dilettante process in full swing...

I made the switch!

No, not to Folgers Crystals, but to Gmail from yahoo mail. I had to sing up for Gmail when I set up this blog and since then my hatred of yahoo mail has only increased. For those of you who don't use it, I'll spare you the horror. As for the rest of you, you already know how annoying it is to click on your mail only to be taken to a second homepage!

I am now a total googlevangelist. Their products really do rock. I love this blogger, I now use their calendar, igoogle, Google docs, and Google maps is the best (Double True). The only pain in the ass is doing all the switching. I've switched the most important things:

Bank Account

Credit Cards

Myspace

Facebook

Gamefly

Netflix

Cable

Bluefly

Charles Tyrwhitt

Amazon

But I know I'm forgetting some stuff. I'll have to continue to use my yahoo account until I can get all my old emails over. But I down with no more yahoomail. Good luck Yahoo/Msft!

Lables on Jackets

I've seen this on the T for some time and back in college and I think it is a trademark of the rube or fashion backward. When sportcoats, suits, overcoats, or other business casual jackets/coats are sold (you'd definately see this in a department store) the left sleeve of a jacket has the lable of the designer loosley sewn on right above the cuff. The idea behind this is that when looking through a rack of suits, you can see the lable right on the sleeve rather than looking inside each jacket to see who designed it.

A good sales person should take this off for you, but I've seen many people leave this label on - assuming there is some cache that needs to be advertised by your suiting or coat. Of course, these people are rarely well-dressed in regards to the rest of their ensemble, but this really pisses me off to the point where I've almost said something to people about it - right there in public!

Back in college there was a kid Sang. Sang had a DKNY suit and left that tag on. I told him, "You're supposed to take that off, that is why it is barely sewn on." Of course, he wasn't going to listen to me, and left it on like a jerk. Sang had an excuse though. As a college freshman that was probably the first suit he had ever bought or even worn, so how could he know? Working people taking the T to work everyday should know better. At the very least take instruction from the best dressed men of our day. James Bond never had this lable on his jacket, not on Diddy's jackets either, or any runway modesl for suitmakers, or anyone!

Instead of these fashion offenders wearing a lable to communicate their style, all they end up communicating is their massive lack thereof!

But I'm worth it!

So I've heard this line on many reality TV shows lately - mostly spouted by women in reference to material possession - mainly jewelry - and it drives me crazy - like moon boots! It is probably a bad sign when I start to notice stuff like this across such great programming like "Top This Party" and "Rich Bride, Poor Bride," but we have a writer's strike here people!
Anyway, I noticed this and it always seems like the people who are NOT worth "it" tend to say this. For example: A fat, bossy, bride was looking for a wedding band with her fiancee. When seeing a $14,000 ring, she claimed, "But I'm worth it."

A) I don't think this couple made that kind of money
B) This is the engagement band!
C) You are stupid

The only comparison I have to these types of people (and the rich, attractive ones as well) is my wonderful Fiancee. She NEVER asks for stuff like this, and NEVER says she is worth "it" in an attempt to cajole monies from me. But that is exactly why she is worth it. That is why I've gotten her a Louis Vuitton bag and more recently, a gorgeous engagement ring. She's great in so many ways, and deserves nice stuff - but I don't need her to tell me and she doesn't have to tell me either!

Shine those shoes...

For those of you who may not know, shoe shining is apparently a dying art - like proper shaving, and old-timey large-front-wheel bicycles. So I'm the type of guy who likes a stylish black dress shoe to wear just about every day to work. So I read in many a places that one should take care of his shoes and thus prolong their life.
Since all of my previous shoes have fallen apart or the leather has cracked, I wanted to believe this to save some money and keep rocking my awesome shoes. So I did what anyone would do, step two - to the Internet!

This is a peculiar issue as there seems to be a mishmosh of conflicting procedures on the net. There are several issues the net seems to be in agreement on:

1) Use shoe trees - they flatten and dry out your kicks

2) EZ shine or instant shine products destroy the shoe over time

3) Rotating you shoes will extend their life. (This is stupid because that is just wearing them less.)

4) High quality shoes, when properly care for, can last you 5+ years with resoling and what not. Unfortunately, "High quality" means handmade in the UK or Italy and starts at around $350. The argument goes that 350/5 is less than 100 a year for the crappy Kenneth Cole's I'm currently wearing.

What they don't agree on is just how to "properly care for" your shoes. Some say you need to clean, condition, polish, and then protect your shoes - EVERY WEEK! That is way to much work for me! Other's say just a clean and polish - but then my OCD kicks in - what do you clean it with? What is the best for polishing? What about mink oil- does that really condition the leather or just create a mess? Some people say Kiwi is good, others say it is crap - but where do you buy this stuff from? I don't need a whole kit, because I already have most of the stuff, but mine still cracked - was it just crappy shoes to begin with?

Well, I have a new pair of Johnston & Murphy shoes on their way to my apartment - so I'm sure this will not be the end of this tirade!