Shaq is NOT the Most Dominant Ever.

I'm getting really tired of people, namely Shaq himself, declaring Shaq to be the Most Dominant Ever. I said it when he was a Laker and I was rooting for him and I'll say it now that he is part of the Heat and I can't stand him, he is not, never was, and never will be, the most dominant player to play the game. How can I say that.

How many times has he done any of the following?

1. Lead the league in rebounds.
2. Lead the league in block shots.
3. Been named Defensive Player of the Year?

That's right, a grand total of 0 times.

OK how about leading the league in Scoring? 2
MVP's? 1

He has been in the league a total of 13 years. And has dominated the league how? Two scoring titles and 1 MVP.

OK he has 3 championship rings and 3 finals MVP. Yeah?

Jordan has 6 rings, 6 finals MVPs, 5 MVPs, 10 scoring titles, 1 defensive player of the year (which is ridiculous for a guard to win)

Russell - 11 rings, 5 MVPs, 5 time rebounding champ And probably would have had a dozen defensive player of the year awards and lead the leage in block shots if they had it back then

Wilt Chamberlain - 7 scoring titles (once with a sick 50.4 scoring average), Lead league in rebounding 11 times and averaged an NBA record 22.9 RPG,

So please stop saying he is the most dominant ever. He is VERY good. Top 10 player no doubt. But Most Dominant Ever? Please. A big man needs to rebound and defend the paint, not just score.

Quick Trip to San Diego

I just got back from a quick trip to San Diego to give a presentation to a company down there. It was actually located right next to Sergio's new office but I wasn't going to be there long and so didn't try and see him.

The travelling was a nightmare. The meeting lasted 1.5 hours and I speant a total of 7 hours in the car. Oh well, gotta get one of these units we build sold.

Everyone have a good weekend.

I'm Back

I was going to write about Teri Schiavo but that has been done to death so instead I'll just write about my trip.

Sorry I've been silent for a few days. With travelling, getting back to work, and everything else its been hard to find time to blog.

So the trip was a success. I had a really good time seeing Jenny again. I've seen her now 3 times this year. Crazy. I'm going back in May for my reunions (although Jenny won't be there) so that will be 4 times in the past year I will have gone back to the east coast. I went back once in 3 years after I moved.

Seeing all my friends back in NY made me kind of miss it. I of course love my friends here but it is kind of different having friends you either knew growing up or knew in college. Of course the weather was awful and I don't miss that but otherwise I do miss it which just makes me think that I'm a grass is greener type of guy.

The plane ride back wasn't so good. I guess I just shouldn't fly US Air anymore. I haven't had too many good flying experiences with them. Don't really have too much else to say.

27

Today I turn 27. Its an odd kind of age for me. I feel much older now than I use to.

For me, 27 seems to me to be where you really are a full adult. You don't really have the excuse that you young anymore. I feel like life really begins now, that I need to be down the path of who I am going to become. Maybe it is just me being overly ambitious but I feel I need to get my life on this path now and waiting much longer will make it too late.

There has been a lot of introspection lately and probably more to come. I can't get everything I'm feeling down right now but I'm sure it will come over time.

For today I'm not worrying too much about it. I'm going to walk around Princeton for a little bit and later head back up to the city to have dinner with my college roommate. Back to California tomorrow.

East Coast Insomniac

I can't sleep. I'm on the east coast right now, actually about 2 feet from Jenny, and I'm up writing my blog because I'm unable to sleep.

The flight over here was pretty bad. I had a headache the entire time, the flight was delayed, and there was a crying baby across the isle. Last night I was able to fall asleep because the headache stayed with me the entire time but I'm finding it difficult to sleep right now.

It's been a pretty mellow weekend so far. Jenny and I did some shopping and saw Robots. Not the best animated movie I have ever seen but then again Fox Animation is usually not so good. Tomorrow I'm off to New York to see some old friends. Hopefully I can stay awake because I know I'm not going to get much sleep tonight.

Worst Movie Ever?

I may have just watched the absolute worst movie ever. 2001 Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick. I hated it so much I'm certain that it is Jenny's favorite movie.

I had heard good things about this movie but having watched it I'm convinced it is one of those movies that one person told someone else that it was deep and meaningful. Not wanting to look stupid, every person after that decided they too wanted to be deep and smart so they swear that the movie is fantastic.

The movie just doesn't move. There is no plot and it makes no sense. It wasn't all that visually interesting. There were scenes that just dragged on absent of dialog, motion, and anything else even remotely pretending to be a point. I can take movies that nothing happens in but this just takes the cake. I am pretty lienent about movies. Heck, most of my Netflix ratings are 3 stars because I think most movies are OK. I may have like 5 1 star movies out of 700 or something like that. If I could give it a 0 I would.

And don't give me that you have to watch it several times to appreciate it. Any movie that is this bad the first time around is not worth a second run. It might not be the worse movie ever, but it's close.

Why I Am Not in the Real Estate Market

As a young, successful, 20 something male, I should probably be looking into getting a house. However I have decided to sit this one out and not invest in real estate at this time. Why? Look at the numbers. They are crazy.

The average household income in california is $49,320. The average home price in Los Angeles is $470,900. Do the Math. Assuming a 30 year mortgage at the national average of 6.25% for $450,000 mortgage (I am assumming very little down as most people these days are doing 0% down) that comes out to a mortgage payment of $2770.73. All this on a monthy income of about $3,288 after taxes. This of course assumes you can come up with a $20,000 down payment which most people can not.

Do these numbers seem right to you? Do you really think a family can live on $500 a month when you haven't paid for utilities, food, clothes, etc.?

It use to be the rule of thumb that you should not spend more than 33% of your gross income on rent. That equates to $1277.43. A mortgage payment of $2770.73 on $49,320 of income equates to almost 72%, PRE-TAX! Now lets just say interest rates rise .75% which they are likely to do (especially because loan rates have not closely matched the fed in recent months). Most people these days have an ARM. That now equates to a payment $29983.86. It starts to get ugly really fast.

There is no conceiveable way that housing prices can stay at this level unless wages rise dramatically. However if wages rise that much it drives the price of doing business in California through the roof. It simply doesn't equate. So I will sit this one out for now and see where we are a year from now.

More Waste for the Federal Government

It is no secret that I'm not a huge fan of the federal government but their actions with the whole Terri Schiavo case brings a whole new meaning to where the federal government should not get involved.

I am not going to argue whether I think this women should live or not. Really it isn't my place nor is it any of my business. But why should the federal government get involved? I can see where the local governments need to decide on the matter but the federal government? Is it really necessary to call a special session of congress over the weekend to discuss the issue? Do people realize it probably cost the government a million dollars or so to try and resolve this matter?

What disturbs me even more is that they made the whole thing very specific to this one case. I'm sorry, but I don't think the federal government should get involved much less make a law that applies to only ONE SPECIFIC instance. If the federal government is going to get involved make it legislation that affects the whole country, not one instance. That is why you have divisions of government. Let the local authorities handle it.

Boxers and Shorts

Memo to the guy at the gym. Please do not wear boxer shorts that are longer than your outer shorts. It just looks ridiculous. There are other options now.

1. Wear these new inventions called briefs
2. Come out of the 80's and buy a pair of longer shorts
3. Wear pants

Thank You

Nothing to say

So, the last few days I haven't really felt like blogging. Getting over being sick probably has a little bit to do with it. Being busy at work has a little more to do with it.

Today is St. Patrick's Day. It also is the start of the NCAA tournament. I have barely even thought about who will win it all this year. Normally I at least try to pick the Final Four but this year I haven't done it yet. Oh well.

Go Princeton! Oh wait, they aren't in it this year.

Smart People = Bad Athletes

No, I'm not saying that all athletes are dumb. Fellow Princeton Alum Bill Bradley comes to mind. But the stereotype for athletes is that they are not always the brightest bulb in the box and I read a book that kind of made me think about the whole reason behind this.

I read a book called Moneyball. It is the story of Billy Beane, the General Manger of the Oakland A's. Oakland has consistently been a good team since Billy took over yet they have one of the two lowest payrolls in MLB. It seems almost contradictory compared to the ginormous payrolls of the Yankees and Redsox but there they are, competing every year.

Before he was a general mananger, Billy Beane was a major league prospect. He had all five tools and was destined to be a perennial all-star. He got drafted in the same year as Darryl Strawberry and easily had just as much promise. However Billy did have one flaw. He thought too much about failure.

Billy relates a story about Lenny Dykstra, a fellow prospect. Billy was a cerebral player, Lenny wasn't exactly. One day they are watching Steve Carlton pitch, one of the greatest pitchers of all time. Lenny asks, "Who is that?" and Billy shockingly replies, "That is Steve Carlton." Lenny didn't really seem to care. He simply said, "I'm going to stick him". He was too dumb to know or care that he was going to go up against one of the most feared pitchers in the game.

Billy on the other hand was terrified of failure. His fear of failure made it almost impossible for him to actually use his physical gifts to become the star everyone imagined. Everytime he failed, that failure would weigh on him. He would analyze it over and over again. At the age of 27, Billy Beane knew he was never going to make it and went to his manager and walked away from the game.

Reading his story made a lot of sense to me. I'm nowhere near the athlete that Billy was but I do suffer from the same problem. If I screw up something on the basketball court, I think about it for a long time. I am not able to isolate the play and move on to the next, I think about it until the end of the day. Maybe the key to being a great athlete is having no short term memory.

Getting Better

It's been a rough few days. I've been sick since last Wednesday and I've been pretty miserable.

I'm not sure what's wrong with me this year. Since November, I've been sick a total of three times, all pretty serious. Maybe its all stress related, maybe I'm not living as healthy a lifestyle as I used to. Who knows.

So that's why I haven't been blogging, or much of anything lately. I've been crawled up in bed trying to get better. I'll be better going forward.

When is it cheating?

Busy at work so will keep this brief and maybe argue in the comments.

I think using steroids is cheating but in reading a Wired article the other day they brought up an interesting point. Why is it bad to take steroids to enhance your body but it is OK to get Lasik Surgery to improve your eyesight? The topic was on elective surgery and that there are techniques coming out that will improve a person's strength, flexibility, etc. if they so choose.

If you think about it logically, from a purely sports perspective, it is actually worse to get Lasik than to take steroids. Lasik no doubt helps athletes, I can attest to that fact. But this takes no work on the athletes part, just some time and money. Sports is about working hard to get better. Steroids don't just work magically, you still have to train to get the full benefits of taking them. It no doubts makes things easier and allows you to get further than you would otherwise but you can't sit on the couch and hope to look like Schwarzenegger.

Where is the line?

Kitty's New Scarf

Other than the fact that there was a thunderstorm on my drive there, My trip to Vegas went well. It was nice to see Kathryn. She was nice enough to knit Bandit a scarf which you can see below. I thought for sure Bandit would tear the the thing to shreds but he actually didn't seem to mind it too much. Maybe he just thought it was a collar or something. Oh well, who understands my cat?

New Windshield Wipers

I have had my car for 3 years and only just yesterday replaced my windwhield wipers. Most experts say you should change your wipers every year. In California that has seemed to me to be a little much since they don't get much use.

However, lately I have had plenty of use for it and have noticed my wipers not performing up to par so I replaced them. Makes a huge difference. Sometimes you just don't really notice because the detoriation is gradual but boy do they work a lot better now. What is with all this rain we are having. I really don't mind a little bit of rain but this is bordering on crazy. I moved back to California in part because the weather is better. Not lately it isn't.

Baseball's Hypocrisy Part II

I really am starting not to like Major League baseball. Several managers, Tony Larussa and Kevin Towers among them, knew that their players were using steroids. Most people are looking the other way and saying that this is OK that they knew because they themselves were not the ones doing it and all they did was turn a blind eye.

What a load of crap and what a double standard. It makes me think of the Chicago Black Sox, banned for life from baseball because they threw the 1919 World Series. Part of that story is the third baseman for that team, Buck Weaver. By most accounts Buck Weaver never took any money, his statistics bear out that he didn't throw any games, but he is banned from the game because he knew what was going on and didn't tell anybody. Then commissioner Mountain Landis proclaimed.

"Regardless of the verdict of juries, no player who throws a ballgame, no player that undertakes or promises to throw a ballgame, no player that sits in conference with a bunch of crooked players and gamblers where the ways and means of throwing a game are discussed and does not promptly tell his club about it, will ever play professional baseball."

It's the same thing. Granted I think taking steroids is a somewhat lesser offense than throwing a game but the fact remains that knowing about something and not doing anything about it are, in Baseball's eyes, equally offensive.

Frustrated

People who know me know that I take my job very seriously. I have a certain love of work and I believe that if you are going to do a job you should do it well and you should do it with all your heart. My employer is paying me to do a job and I, as a man with integrity, feel that I must do my absolute best. It is why I rarely get truly frustrated with work, I understand the business aspects of almost every decision. I approach work for what it is, a business.

But lately work has been frustrating me. I'm doing stuff that I no longer should be doing. I don't have the adequate resources to do my job correctly. When I complain it seems these complaints fall on to deaf ears. Normally I would just get up and quit but most who read this blog know why I have to stay around. It is only through sheer will, determination, and lots of hard work on my part and the people who work for/with me that things haven't completely fallen apart. Like I said, part of being able to deal with work is the fact that I understand it is a business. But what happens when decisions seemingly no longer make business sense?

It is not like me to complain about work so you know how bad things have gotten. I will of course still do my job and do it as well as I can but at this point even that might not be good enough.

Only Gay Men Watch the Oscars

Or so Chris Rock proclaimed. Funny, at my Sunday Basketball game almost every guy left to go watch the Oscars. Believe me, most of these guys are definitely not gay. Then again Chris Rock did add a caveat, men who are NOT in the business and I guess most of the guys I play with are.

All that being said I did not watch the Oscars last night but I'm glad that Jaime Foxx won. He has come a long way since his In Living Color Days playing Wanda. I did get to watch Ray this weekend and have to say he did an Amazing job portraying Ray Charles. He also did a great job in Collateral but I totally agree that Morgan Freeman deserves to get an Oscar, one of the great supporting actors to come along in a long time.

Netflix Complaining

I swear this isn't a Netflix all the time blog but after my last post about Netflix I have to change my opinion slightly.

The service I've been getting since my last post took a nosedive. Its like Netflix read my post, figured out who I was, and decided to just piss me off even though I wrote a relatively nice post. First, the number of DVD's I get has slowed to a crawl. Before I would be able to get 2 turnarounds a week. On the 3 out at a time that is 6 DVD's a week more or less, probably more like 4.5 a week. But now I'm lucky to be getting 3 a week. I haven't slowed down my movie watching but Netflix is now processing and shipping my DVD's next day. It use to be that I return on Saturday, the get it and ship Monday, get new disks Tuesday. Now it is like ship Saturday , get on Tuesday, ship Wednesday, get new disk Thursday. The icing on the cake happened yesterday when they shipped me a DVD that had a HUGE crack in it. Quite literally the DVD was broken all the way through to the center. Maybe it was the Post office's fault but if Netflix shipped this DVD (they are supposed to inspect them before they go out) then WTF?

OK, so I can understand throttling me a little more. I don't like it but now I'm starting to think it is just completely unfair. Not getting a movie on top of my queue is one thing, getting worse service is another. It is like going to the all-you-can-eat buffet but the restaurant telling you because you are fat and can eat more than others you not only don't get the same choices of food everyone else does but you can only get one plate every hour. Oh and for this privilege you get to pay the same as everyone else.

Again, I'm not enraged at the situation, if I were I would cancel my service. But I'm not so sure I can give Netflix an endorsement either.

Barry Bonds and Steroids

I hate Barry Bonds. I hate the San Francisco Giants. I hope Barry Bonds never hits another home run again.

All that being said, I think he gets treated unfairly by the media. The guy is a jerk, no doubt about it and in some way deserves what he gets. But I'm sick and tired of everyone getting on him about steroids. Look, I think he did them. He admitted using a cream by accident but I do believe that he probably used steroids extensively and that has attributed to his crazy home run totals.

But come on. Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty? Has the guy ever failed a drug test? No. That's because baseball turned a blind eye to the problem even though it is clear they knew about the problem as long as 20 years ago. I blame baseball, not Barry Bonds. No doubt taking steroids is cheating but players cheat all the time. It doesn't make it right but at the same time I won't condemn him until there is indisputable proof he did take them.

Painting the Room

With Jenny coming by today, I have to blog about something.

So a perfect Jenny Smith topic. I painted my room this weekend. I'm not quite done but I'm close, and I'm not so sure I like the color combination I picked. For the trim I picked a Mahogany color to kind of match the wood furniture in my room. For the walls I picked a yellow. I like yellow and generally I like rooms painted yellow but I think I picked too yellow a yellow. Oh well. If I don't like it I guess I can just paint it again. I'll just finish up the room and see if I like it when its done.

Nostalgia

My company use to occupy most of our current building. However, because we haven't been doing well, we have moved out of the east part of the building. The vacated part of the building is where my group use to occupy and where I started out with the company. I barely saw the west side of the building and that was because it was on the way to my car. Yesterday, they repainted the east wing and it is now empty and ready for someone new to occupy it.

Seeing the empty, newly painted hallway makes me kind of sad. I remember when I first came to the company. I had such high hopes for it. I thought the technology we were working on was cutting edge. The people I interviewed with and eventually worked with were bright and dedicated. The culture of the company was great. We were going to build a great product and I was going to be on the ground floor of it all. Going to a small company can be risky for someone like me. Not only is there a greater chance of failure but it can hurt your long term career prospects as the name isn't as recognized.

But it was a risk I was willing to take. The great thing about a small company is the chance to make it grow. I'm the type of person who wants to dare to do something great and meaningful. But now, that part of my life is over and it is kind of sad. I still plan to work for a company and make it grow, whether it is in my current job or the next. But looking down that empty white hallway, and the end of which lies the past, can only make someone like me a little nostalgic.

Hockey is Over?

They canceled the NHL season yesterday. Did anyone even notice there wasn't a hockey season? I'm a sports nut but barely noticed it. The only thing I noticed was a positive, no Hockey highlights on ESPN so the highlights I actually care about came on sooner.

Good Riddance!

Special Tax for Wal-mart

Before I start, let me tell people who do not normally read my blog this: I do not shop at Wal-mart. I'm not a particular fan of their policies and hiring practices. I hate their stores because they are warehouse like and often very dark and dirty. But I choose to combat Wal-mart in the best possible way, I don't shop there.

But now there is a bill in Montana to tax retailers who do more than $20 Million in sales. Basically, the more successful you are the more you are going to have to pay. It takes aim squarely at Wal-mart, and to some extent Target and Costco, whose critics complain that they pay their workers so little that it is up to the public to subsidize the workers' meager wages.

Now my first take, two wrongs don't make a right. The real problem is that you expect everybody else to subsidize lower paid workers. If there is no social welfare then there is no problem. However, this is a very long topic in and of itself and I don't really wish to argue this point right now.

OK, so lets just take social welfare programs as a given. Is it a good idea to tax Wal-mart? The impetus behind this is to presumably help those who Wal-mart is underpaying. Does it really? Any economist will tell you that in truth, the effect is unknown. Take this scenario.

Faced with higher taxes Wal-mart does what any business does, it tries to maximize profit. Taxes always have some effect on behavior because it changes the relative cost of doing business. It will probably either

a) cut costs, most likely through wages and benefits since this is most businesses biggest and most flexible expense.
b) raise prices

Neither is good for the people the tax is trying to help. For those who hate Wal-mart and believe it is the devil, have you actually shopped at one? Do you see the people who go there? Most are struggling families who go to Wal-mart because its prices are so low it allows them to stretch their dollar that much farther. Raise prices and you directly hurt those who need it the most.

I am sure there will now be arguments that Wal-mart created this class in the first place by paying their workers so little that they can only afford to shop at their stores. Take a good look. Wal-mart is huge; millions and millions of people shop there, much more than are employed by Wal-mart. But that isn't even the point. Even if Wal-mart created this class I have less of a problem with that than the government fixing the problem through taxation. I have to agree with the Wal-Mart spokesman, government should not pick winners and losers in business. If you allow government to pick on the biggest kid on the block, what is next? What is to stop them from taxing the 2nd biggest kid, and then the 3rd? As soon as #1 is taxed into oblivion and #2 becomes #1 what happens then?

So lets stop Wal-mart the right way. STOP SHOPPING THERE! Tell your friends, spread the word. Evangelisize Target. Lets just not do it by having government do the dirty work.

The Pressure

So today is Tuesday, which means Jenny Smith will be reading my blog. What to write, what to write.

Can I just write how ridiculous it is that I can not afford a home in Southern California. Prices are outrageous. Any sort of decent Condo around the Pasadena area has an asking price in the mid 300's. Houses start somewhere in the 400's. That's outrageous. With some creative financing I can probably afford it but come on now. It scares me to think how some families are affording to buy homes out here; they must really be stretching themselves thin.

I on the other hand refuse to be stretched so thin. Considering my family history I have a need to always be prepared for the worst. That is why I have a very large cash reserve in case something bad happens. If I stretch myself too thin in buying a house there is that constant fear in me that I will need that cash. I've really never had such an emergency but it only takes one. Yes I know, I can get a 0% loan and do all sorts of other things, but that doesn't sit well with someone who is as financially risk adverse as I am, at least when it comes to large purchases.

My Thoughts on Valentine's Day

Today is Valentine's Day. Most of my previous girlfriends, with the exception of the last one, would say I'm a very romantic guy. I go out of my way to be thoughtful and to plan romantic evenings throughout the year. I always buy my girlfriends flowers and I'm prone to give gifts at random times. Every time I have had a girlfriend on Valentine's day I have done something special for her just so she knows what she means to me.

That being said, I'm not a fan of Valentine's Day. Yes it is a Hallmark and Chocolate and Flower industry holiday but that is not necessarily my problem with it. I just think it is

A) An easy way out
B) An easy trap to fall into

A boyfriend should be romantic the entire year, not just one day. Just because he buys you flowers and chocolates and takes you out that night does not make him a good boyfriend. For guys like me that try hard the entire year it sickens me that some guys get a "Get out of Jail Free" card for just being thoughtful on one day.

What upsets me even more is that if I share this view with females I often get chastised for it. So a guy like me, who is certain to bring you flowers on every month anniversary, gets in trouble for not following the crowd one day a year. How silly is that? Wouldn't you women rather have a guy who treats you like a queen every day of the year? A guy makes sure to make a big deal of your anniversary since it is YOUR holiday. A guy that tells you he loves you not because he is supposed to but because he wants to?

I guess I just don't get women.

My Netflix Experience

I have now been a member of Netflix for a little over 3 months. Thus far I can't really complain. In the last 30 days I have received 22 movies, that's right 22 movies. I paid a total of $19.47, less than $1 a movie. I haven't always gotten my top priority movie but that is because the way Netflix determines who gets what movies.

There has been a raging debate about whether Netflix throttles its customers. That is, the more your rent, the worst your service gets. You don't get your top priority movie, they delay the shipment of DVD's, etc. Well I guess Netflix has finally owned up to it. This is ganked from another site

We receive rental returns Monday through Friday, except holidays. We process nearly 100% of returns the same day we receive them. When we check-in a return, an e-mail is automatically and promptly sent to you to let you know that we have received your DVD.

Our goal is to ship you the DVDs listed highest in your Queue. We try to ship you DVDs from the distribution center closest to you so that you get movies quickly. Often, on the same day that we receive a DVD from you, we will ship the next available DVD from your Queue. In certain instances, your next available DVD will not ship until the next business day following our receipt of your returned movie. This can occur, for example, when your top choices are not available to you from your closest distribution center or the number of shipments to be processed by the distribution center on that day has been exceeded. When this happens, your DVD will ship on the next business day and may come from an alternate distribution center.

In determining priority for shipping and inventory allocation, we give priority to those members who receive the fewest DVDs through our service. As a result, those members who receive the most movies may experience next-day shipping and receive movies lower in their Queue more often than our other members. By prioritizing in this way, we help assure a balanced experience for all our members. Those that rent a lot of movies get a great value and those with lighter viewing habits are able to count on our service to meet their limited needs.

I have definitely experienced some slowdown but since I obviously still get a lot of DVD's it isn't that bad. I often get movies with a "very long wait" designation which didn't use to happen before and I will often get next day shipping instead of same day.

I don't really have a problem being "throttled". I did have a problem when Netflix wouldn't admit the practice as it was clear to me that it was going on. As long as businesses are fair and honest with their customers I have no problems with practices like this. Netflix has a vested interest in keeping their other customers happy, I happen to cost Netflix money since they pay more in postage then they get back form me. As long as I know the rules I have the ability to very loudly complain by not giving them my dollar.

Making Mistakes

Believe it or not I make mistakes and I make a lot of them.

There is a perception that I think I am always right, I don't think this blog helps that image as I like to argue about things that others, especially those who read this blog, don't always agree with. I like to argue for argument sake; what I see as entertaining others find very frustrating. This is why I refuse to argue with certain people. I have learned that some people hate to argue with me, you know who you are.

I am sure that I have annoyed enough people and lost a few potential friends with this behavior. Others, initally put off by this attitude, have stuck around long enough to realize that this is just one side of my personality, and by no means the most dominant. To those of you that this is true for, thank you for sticking around to get to know the real me.

Nothing is perfect, especially not me. I make mistakes all the time. Unlike some people I know, I have even failed :) I may not get things right the first time, but I learn quickly and am usually much better the second time around.

So for anyone who has ever gotten mad at me for making some crazy argument or for starting the argument in the first place, please forgive me. I love a good argument, but I would never choose one over a worthwhile person.

I Love DVDs

I'm watching Garfield, which ended up not as bad as I expected. There was a scene where Odie is locked out of the house by Garfield (which was actually quite sad) and he ends up chasing a bunch of cars.

As he is running down the street I swear the place looked oddly familiar. I paused and went backward and clear as can be is the 4th Dimension and Old Town Pizza in Downtown Monrovia. It was only a brief scene but sure enough it was Monrovia and pretty easy to tell since you can pause DVD's so clearly.

Rough Week

It's been a rough week, actually a rough two weeks. Work is pretty much beating me up. I'm definitely not getting enough sleep and working until pretty late most nights. I'm totally losing track of the days but realized that its Friday, thank god. I'll still have to work this weekend but at least it will be on my timetable. So instead of doing my job, I'll do the job of two other people.

Superbowl this weekend, that should be fun. Not having the traditional party this year. I invited some people over but thus far it might just be me and Bandit cheering on the Eagles.

Absolute Dominance

How dominant is Barry Bonds? Carlos Delgado signed a contract with the Florida Marlins. In his contract his a bonus if he happens to win the NL MVP award. It also stipulates a lesser bonus if he finishes second, but ONLY if he finishes second to Barry Bonds. Barry Bonds has won the award a record 7 times.

Now that is dominance.

January Reminds People to Vote Republican

This is what the Democrats don't get. Every January people are reminded why it is better to be a Republican.

I did my taxes yesterday. I payed A LOT of taxes this past year. A LOT. I paid more taxes this year than most people earn. I paid enough in taxes to buy a new car, a NICE car. While that is good in the sense that I earned a lot of money, it strikes me as terribly unfair.

I am not rich. I earn a good living but few people could argue that I live an extravagent lifestlye. I take very little from others. I have never claimed unemployment, I have never been on welfare, and I don't get any tax breaks for being married, having children, or owning my own home. Yet somehow I am deemed the one best suited to pay for all of this. My virtue, the fact I pulled myself up and have never asked for anything, makes me the one who must bear the greatest burden.

Am I being selfish? Absolutely. But few people who know me would think I am. I donate my time to good causes when I can, I donate to charity every year, and I'm an honest man. I worked hard and sacrificed a lot to be in the position I am. I studied hard, didn't party in school, and squeezed every penny so I can have something for later. I don't mind giving to others since I have a lot but shouldn't I be able to take care of myself and my loved ones first? Why must I care for other people's children and families first before I care for mine?

Yes I know, Republicans spend a lot of money and the budget rose the fastest under W. But the fact remains that the Republican platform is for smaller government, lower taxes, and ensuring that everyone is a Christian. OK, the last part I can't get on board with but everything else sounds good to me.

I have always voted Democrat. I believed that no price was too high to ensure personal freedom; that was until I started paying the bill.

Way Too Responsible

The power went out for the entire block while I was at work. As we were told it might be hours before they get everything back on, they sent people home.

As I was literally at the door, my foot outside of the building, the lights kicked back in. I could have left, nobody would have stopped me and there was no way for my boss to know I hadn't left yet. But me being me I walked back into the building and went back to work.

Am I a sucker or what?

Am I Trying to Hard?

Performance reviews are due today. I had mine done several weeks ago as I believe in putting a lot of thought into them.

The thing is that I seem to be in the minority. I always give full and detailed explanations for my ratings for each of my employees. Whether I'm going to evaluate them as superior, average, or below average I give my reasoning for each in full detail and with relevant examples of why I view them as such. I sit down with each of them for about 30 minutes or so to fully discuss it and give them a chance to give me any feedback and to also allow them to evaluate me.

Now, at least in my company, I seem to be in the clear minority. Most reviews give one or two lines for an explanation like "He performs his job well" and leave it at that. I know a lot of managers that never sit down with their people to discuss it.

How about you other people? What are your reviews like? What do you prefer them to be or do you even care?

Training for the week

I have been stuck in training all week which is the reason my blogging has slowed down.

The class is boring but at least it is well taught. Much of what is being covered are things I already know so it really isn't all that interesting for me. It's always been a problem for me. Most of life is a "one size fits all" type of thing, no matter your skill level, competence, or ability to learn you must sit through something just to say you sat through something. The worst part about it is that I'm not allowed to have my laptop in class so I find myself, literally, just staring at my notebook trying to think of something, anything, else besides the class.

Oh well.

Relationship Advice

I think it is odd the amount of relationship advice other people feel they need to give you. I am probably guilty of it myself but I think it is odd how much people are willing to offer up when they themselves aren't in good relationships.

If I ask for relationship advice, then by all means give it to me. But if I didn't ask you, please don't give it to me unless you yourself are in a happy long term relationship with no drama to speak of. This applies to very few people, so in other words don't give it to me.

I am by no means a relationship expert, nor do I pretend to be. But so many people I know act as if they have all the answers to all the relationship problems of the world yet they themselves are single or otherwise miserable. For those who I have offered relationship advice when none was asked for I apologize. From now on feel free to tell me to shut my pie-hole whenever I give you unsolicited advice. No offense will be taken.

Blockbuster Late Fees

Some people just amaze me. I saw an article today about a bitter former Blockbuster renter. She did not care that Blockbuster eliminated its Late Fees. She saw it as a last-ditch attempt to woo back customers it is losing to Wal-mart and Netflix. She was upset at Blockbuster because it would charge her a late fee for returning a movie one day late.

The audacity! I mean really. Imagine the nerve of someone charging you a fee, which you agreed to in your contract, for basically taking advantage of their business. I mean it was only a day late right? What is one movie one day late? Please people. If you don't like late fees I have an idea, DON'T RETURN YOUR MOVIES LATE. Novel idea I know. I've rented lots of movies at Blockbuster, I don't think I ever returned one late. I rent a movie, watch a movie, return the movie the next day. If I happened to not get to it and need to return it late so be it. I would be happy to pay the late fee; I would not expect Blockbuster to pay for my change in plans.

New Best Friends

Here is a picture of the two new best friends, Bandit and Milo. OK, maybe they are not best friends, Bandit just tolerates Milo and Milo seems scared to death of Bandit, but they are getting along, which is a big accomplishment for Bandit.



And just in case you wanted another picture of Milo, here is one that my girlfriend took that I thought was particularly cute.

No Blog Today

Only have time to say that I don't have time to blog today. Silly to post just to say you can't post huh? Might not post the next few days but we will just have to see how the week shapes up.

Dodger Fans Are the Worst

I swear, Dodger fans are the worst fans on the planet. They can't stop complaining.

Let me remind everyone of something. The Dodgers have won EXACTLY ONE post-season game in the lsat 16 years. Yet for some reason all the Dodger fans are upset because the Dodgers have basically completely rebuilt the team in the offseason. They let most of their popular players go including Adrian Beltre, Sean Green, and Jose Lima and have added players like J.D. Drew, Jeff Kent, and Derek Lowe.

This is a team that last year was expected by most to finish dead last in their division, and they actually came in first! Give the new team some time. Besides, what are you holding on to? It isn't like this was the Yankees or Red Sox who have won something. ONE GAME! It isn't like the Lakers who tore apart a dynasty. Quit holding on to your mediocre team.

Hollywood Couples

With the breakup of Jennifer and Brad that got me thinking, are there really any Hollywood Super-Couples that have been together for a long time? I mean SUPER couples. couples where each person is as famous as the other and BOTH are pretty famous. I know Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson have been together for a long time but she is not nearly as famous as he is. Here are the few I can think of where both people are relatively famous and they have been together for more than 7 years.

Jada Pinkett & Will Smith
Kelly Preston & John Travolta
Tea Leoni & David Duchovny
Catherine Zeta Jones & Michael Douglas
Kyra Sedgewick & Kevin Bacon
Sarah Jessica Parker & Matthew Broderick
Robin Wright-Penn & Sean Penn

And that is it. Most of these relationships are under 10 years though and to me that really isn't all that long. Further, in most of these couples one of the two has kind of taken a back seat while the other person's career has done better.

Any thoughts?

The Wonder of Drugs

I use to be the type that would never take a drug no matter how much pain I was in. Oh the follies of youth.

This morning I woke up with a terrible pain in my left shoulder and back. I quite literrally could not raise my head up to get out of bed and could barely raise my arm I had to come into work so I said screw it and dragged myself up. I popped some advil and went off to work. I feel almost 100% better.

To all those tough, macho guys out there who refuse to take drugs. Get over it. I use to be you. Believe me, its much better to be pain free.

Saddest Little Puppy

This is a picture of Milo, my girlfriend's dog. It might be one of the saddest things I have ever seeen in my life. Milo broke his right front leg about two weeks ago. On the way to the vet he was dropped and broke his left front leg. Now he has two cast. If you know how pomeranians are, you know they are full of energy and very excitable. So now Milo hops around on his two back legs in what might be the most heartbreaking thing you will ever see.

Traditional New Year Gym Rant

I think I complain about this every year so I'm going to do it again. I hate going to the gym after the New Year. For the first few weeks in January there are always more people in the gym than usual trying to fulfill their New Year's pledge to get in shape.

Then February rolls around and all of a sudden people realize that going to the gym is real work and that you actually have to be committed to going. Just doing it on a whim doesn't really work.

For all you people who crowd the gyms in January, only to disappear by February, why don't you save everyone some time and come back when you are truely committed to getting in shape. You can start by putting down that donut.

Why I Don't Make New Year's Resolutions

No offense to those of you that do, but I actually really don't understand why people, at the start of the calendar year, make New Years resolutions.

First off, I attempt to "improve" myself throughout the year. When I notice I have some problem I attempt to correct it immediately. What if I thought I was overweight right now? Would I wait the 360 days until the New Year to do something about it? Of course not.

Second, I think a lot of people set themselves up for failure. New Year's Resolutions are often very lofty and ambitious. Soon people realize that they can't quite make it and they get discouraged. Failure breeds failure. That is not to say that you should not set your goals really high, I would be the last to say such a thing, but you should have a realistic way to achieve said goals. Just saying something like you are going to "find the love of my life" and hoping she is the next girl to walk down the street isn't a very good plan. People make lofty goals, don't create a plan to achieve it, and then when faced with failure become very discouraged. This only adds to the problem the resolution was attempting to solve.

Of course this isn't me trying to say all New Year's resolutions are bad. I can see value in creating a new chapter in life with the turning of the calendar. It just has never worked for me that way.

Los Angeles Angels

So the Angels have decided to change their name to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. A lot of Angel fans from Orange County are up in arms declaring "We are not part of Los Angeles!". I say get over yourself.

Now I'm not an Orange County resident so I will say that I don't fully understand the situation nor can I appreciate what it is to be part of the O.C. That being said I can understand why the owner of the Angels, Arte Moreno, is doing what he is. There really is no name recognition for the city of Anaheim. Nobody else outside of California knows where Anaheim is. He can potentially increase his fan base by making this move. Does it matter to me that they don't really play in Los Angeles? Not particularly. What about these sports teams?

Auburn Hills Pisotons (Detroit Pistons)
East Rutherford Giants (New York Giants)
Arlington Rangers (Texas Rangers)

The list goes on and on. Yes, I agree that O.C. is not part of L.A. in the traditional sense but it really is in terms of the metorpolitan area. I guess I just can't understand why someone from O.C. hates being identified with the L.A. area. What a bunch of snobs :)

My favorite suggestion was to rename the Dodgers:

The Western United States, Except for San Francisco, Dodgers at Los Angeles.

Sick on New Year's Eve

I had a nice long post that kind of reflected on the past year but I decided not to post it. Just too personal I guess.

I'm excited about the New Year but upset that I'm sick and I'm at work. I'm not sure what I have, I think its a stomach flu; I feel miserable. Normally I wouldn't come into work but I think its kind of fishy to call in sick the day before a holiday so like a good soldier I dragged my ass into work.

I'm a moron.

Men, Women, and Going out

I had a conversation with someone at work today about the differences between men and women and their desire to go out. The conversation basically revolved around the fact that I would generally rather stay in while the girl I'm seeing would rather go out. More specifically, I don't really care if we go out for New Year's Eve whereas the girl really wants to go out and be among other people.

Now I'm not saying ALL men don't like to go out or ALL women do but it seems to be generally true for a lot of couples I know. Here is my theory.

Guys go out with a purpose. Let me let you all in on a little secret. Guys go out to meet girls. We don't go out to have a good time, we go out to meet girls. Yes, some guys do. I'm one of them as I'm one of the few guys I know who actually likes to dance. But 90% of guys go out with the intention of picking up girls.

Now girls on the other hand will go out to just have a good time. Yes, picking up a guy would be great but girls will still go out even if it is just to party and have a good time.

There lies the difference. In a couple, the guy doesn't want to go out because he has no motivation. He has a girlfriend, he doesn't need to go out and try and pick up women. Women on the other hand still have the motivation to go out and have fun. Thus , men want to stay home and women want to go out. It's like shopping. Guys go shopping with a purpose, to buy something. Women go shopping for all sorts of reasons, many of which have nothing to do with actually buying something. Think about it.

America: The Self-Centered Country

Most of you have already probably heard that there was a very powerful earthquake off the coast of Indonesia. The resulting tidal waves that were created have devastated the area killing over 23,000 people. I can only hope that the aid being sent is able to help those who need it.

What bothers me about the whole thing as I listened to news reports yesterday and today is that there is a need to report the total number of Americans known to be killed. Yesterday three Americans were confirmed dead. Today it is six. I guess it is somewhat newsworthy but I believe it is really insignificant in the larger scope of things. Do Americans feel a closer connection to the situation knowing that some of their fellow countrymen have died? Does this fact illicit greater sympathy even though Americans make up only 0.02% of the casualties? To me a person is a person and it is a tradgedy when someone is killed whether they were born in America or not.

Smart Kitty

I love my cat. He keeps me in line.

So the other day I looked around and couldn't find my cat. I went into the hallway and heard the sound of peeing coming from the bathroom. It could only be one of two things. Either Sandy, my roommate, didn't close the door, or my cat was using the toilet.

Now for those of you who don't know, I have toilet trained my cat. However, he had some urinary problems a while back and so I switched him back to using a litter box. I don't know if the two were related but I figured it was better to be safe than sorry.

Well I have never really seen him using the toilet when he has had the option of the litter box. However, I have been remiss in cleaning his box as often as I should so I think he was telling me he would prefer the toilet to the smelly litter box. Bad owner!

Spending Other People's Money

Sports fans love to spend other people's money. Whenever the team they root for is doing bad the answer is always that the organization needs to go out and spend whatever it takes to get some other player that will be the savior, salary be damned.

Such is the case with the Dodgers these days. To catch you up, the Dodgers won the NL west division last year. This offseason they decided not to resign Adrian Beltre who signed with the mariners for 5 years and $64 million. Coupled with the Paul Lo Duca trade last year and the botched three-team mega-deal this winter and a lot of people are speculating that the Dodgers are trying to cut payroll and save some money.

Fans are screaming bloody murder. They want Frank McCourt, the Dodgers owner, to spend whatever it takes to win, kind of like George Steinbrenner of the Yankess does.

Sports fans are funny. They speculate and speculate during the offseason and don't let anything play itself out. Am I estatic that the Dodgers didn't sign Beltre, of course not. But I also understand what they did. Beltre had one good year. He had seven bad years before that and you want to reward the guy with a $65 million dollar contract? Don't people remember Darren Dreifort? Reports are that the Dodgers offered about $55 million or so and the fans are upset that the Dodgers didn't go the extra $2 million a year to keep Beltre. I mean its only $2 million per year right? How many of you have $2 million a year to just throw away on something you don't think is worth it?

Frank McCourt bought the team. Its his team. He can run it anyway he wants. You as a fan have a simple recourse. Don't support the Dodgers. Don't go to the games. Don't buy merchandise. Heck you can even still root for them and watch them on TV but so long as you voice your displeasure with your dollar sooner or later McCourt will get the idea that he will lose money if he doesn't put a winning team on the field.

Are you a stalker.

I can't believe someone did a study to find out what behavior patterns exist in mall-parking-lot seekers. According to the survey there are 4 types.

1. Search and Destroy - roam the aisles, cruising endlessly for the perfect spot
2. lay and wait - position themselves at the end of an aisle and wait for a space to open up
3. stalkers - the most predatory, slowly follow shoppers leaving the store back to their parking spot.
4 see it and take it - just take the first available spot no matter how far they walk

Without a doubt I'm a "see it and take it" guy. Unless the person is already in the car and is about to back out in the next 20 seconds I will not wait for a spot. It is just a waste of time and too stressful to continually wait for the "perfect" spot. For me, the perfect spot is the one that is open.

The Shopping Season

Is it me or is this shopping season kind of slow? I normally hate to go shopping after Thanksgiving but have gone a few times with no real big crowds. A lot of so-called experts predicted a robust shopping season but the few reports I have read have said it has been a disappointment. I would easily believe that because thus far I haven't hit any large crowds.

I went to the malls the day after Thanksgiving. I normally avoid it like the plague but this year I had my reasons. I was expecting to fight for parking but it really wasn't all that bad. I also went to the malls this past weekend, the last weekend before Christmas, and it was busy but not overly crowded. I only had to wait a few minutes in line, my least favorite thing in the world, to buy a gift.

Oh well. Sucks for retailers, good for people like me.

Best Actors

Who are the five best actors today? I'm not talking about the best looking or those who have been in the best movies. I'm talking about people who can just flat-out act. Here is my list in no particular order.

1. Edward Norton
2. Sean Penn
3. Denzel Washington
4. Kevin Spacey
5. Johnny Depp

Not quite making my list: Tom Hanks, Tim Robbins, Anthony Hopkins

I'm sure I probably missed a few but that is just off the top of my head. If you want to add someone then tell me who you disagree with me on.

The Rising Cost of Healthcare

Yesterday it was announced that my company would implement a co-pay for all health plans. So now, depending on the plan, employees will get between $20 and $200 deducted directly from their paycheck. Up until now the company covered all premiums for all health care plans.

I'm not really all that upset about the whole thing. In fact, I kind of expected it. The move is to try and control the company's contribution toward the upward spiraling cost of healthcare in two different ways.

A) Keep the companies contribution to healthcare flat even though cost have risen
B) Keep the companies contribution to all employees equal whichever plan they select.

B. Is being implemented by charging a higher co-pay for the POS plan than the HMO. POS plans cost the employer more so in effect all the other employees on the HMO plan subsidize the cost of the more expensive employees. Considering I'm on the cheapest plan, I am single, and I am young I am the one doing the most subsidizing so this is a good deal for me overall.

However, what I think this really points out is that healthcare is becoming much too expensive and I think this is a shame.

I used to believe in universal health care but I no longer do. There are many reasons why healthcare is so expensive but I believe that the major culprit in the rising cost of healthcare is the fact that most patients see the treatment as free. You go to the doctor, you might pay a small co-pay, and you get treated. Further, that doctor is obligated to treat you with the utmost care no matter the cost (there are some restrictions but in reality very few procedures get denied if the doctor recommends it) and the effect it will have on other patients. There is little incentive for the patient to refuse healthcare as he is paying very little of the actual cost of providing that healthcare, thus cost spiral out of control.

Like anything else healthcare is based on supply and demand. Their are limited resources which to treat everyone. However we live in a society where most people have access to some form of healthcare and those who don't have the right to at least emergency care (which ends up costing taxpayers more money anyway as preventive care is usually less expensive).

In the end, everyone suffers from more expensive and a greatly degraded healthcare system. In a free market system you simply can't legislate something like this. In the end, the people who are most hurt by trying are the people who the system are trying to help. It is the same reason I don't think that excessively taxing the rich actually helps or why I don't think raising the minimum wage is a good idea.

Think about it, who is the person least affected by this raise in cost by my company? Me. Like I said, I'm on the least expensive plan and I require little health care anyway. Within the company I am probably in the top 20% of salaries so losing $20 a month is really no big deal to me. However it is a big deal to the guys barely earning enough to get by. This $20 (much more if they have a family or are on the more expensive plan) is going to come out of something and so they will have to scale back on other necessary goods. The problem is actually even worse than this. As all healtcare becomes more expensive people like myself will probably always still be able to afford it eventually pricing out the people at the bottom.

The Laws of Attraction

There is the idea that liking someone for their looks is "shallow" while liking someone for their brain is not. Why is that?

I was having a conversation with someone today about what I find to be attractive. I thought we were talking strictly about physical attributes so I listed a few things that I tend to be attracted to but are by no means set in stone. I was told I was a "typical guy" because I listed only physical characteristics.

Now, those who know me know that this is not all I look for, far from it. But I'm also not ashamed to admit that a very important criteria for me is that I'm attracted to someone physically. If someone has the best personality in the world but I'm just not physically attracted to her it will just never work out. I've learned this about myself and I've grown to accept it.

This may seem strange coming from someone, like me, whose strongest attribute is probably that I'm intelligent. I should think that everyone should judge people solely on their intellect as I would probably do quite well for myself. But I believe you should like people for whatever reason you want and that no reason is better than another. Isn't it all just arbitrary? When in history did someone decide that liking someone because they happen to be beautiful rather than really intelligent is a bad thing?

It is OK to like someone because they are smart, a great painter, an awesome musician, kind to children, etc. but it is wrong because they are beautiful? Shouldn't we admire excellence in whatever form it takes? Here are typical reasons.

Some people are just born beautiful. You can't help the way you look.

I completely disagree. You can definitely make yourself "better looking" than simply what god gave you. There is of course plastic surgery but I'm talking about working out, eating right, and taking care of yourself. Besides, some people are just born smarter or more talented than others so say "they are just born with it" isn't really a fair statement.

Beauty is fleeting.

So are a lot of things. If I get Alzheimer's and my intellect is gone does that mean it is OK to stop loving me? Success is fleeting. You might have a great job now but maybe you have a stroke and can no longer work. If you are a great guitarist maybe you mangle your hand and can no longer play.

Its just superficial

The question is why? By whose standards? What makes it more superficial than anything else?

I will agree liking a person for ONLY their looks might be bad but so is liking someone ONLY because they are smart. Like I said, you have to look at the complete package.

The Flip Side of Outlawing Wal-Mart

Back when Sergio use to work here we would have arguments all the time about Wal-Mart. One argument I remember was whether or not the government had the right to say a Wal-Mart could not open a store in the community. I, being the good libretarian that I am, believe government should have little to no say when it comes to what is done with Private Property. The other argument is that a community as a righ to decide what it does and does not want and make laws accordingly.

The problem is that if you declare it is OK for government to determine what can be done with private property the opposite of outlawing Wal-Mart must also be true. There was an article in the WSJ yesterday of how many local governments are using the power of Emminent Domain to force small business owners out to allow big-box companies like Costco and Wal-Mart to take over. They do this because these large retailers bring in more tax revenues which is vital for these cash-strapped communities.

So where is the line? How do you solve this problem? For me its simple. You do not allow government to determine winners and losers in a business enviroment. If the community doesn't like Wal-Mart than don't shop there. With no customers Wal-Mart has to eventually close its doors. Want a Wal-Mart, OK, but don't take someone's private property just so you can do it. If nobody comes to the stores on that piece of land soon enough the doors will have to be closed. Free Markets!

The Dating Rules

Whenever you start dating someone there are certain rules you need to follow. They go unspoken but people definitely follow them.

The thing is, nobody really likes the rules but you have to play by them. Otherwise you might mess something up. People say, "Well I don't like to play all those games" but the thing is whether they know it or not most people prefer people who do follow the rules, they just don't like to be told that that is what they or the other person is donig. Example?

- You do not call the next day
- You do not go on a date two nights in a row
- You do not go out more than once or twice a week
- You do not immediately call back
- You ask a woman out once and only once
- Keep the first date casual, brief, and in a public place
- You do not talk about past relationship on the first or second date
- Avoid tricky topics like Politics and religion on the first date
- The guy pays for the first date
- Keep your phone conversations brief
- Always appear to be busy and to have another life

I can go on and on but you get the picture. I'm not saying I haven't broken some of these rules or that I believe all of them but in general I try to follow most of them. Now I know a lot of you will say that all these rules are silly and that you don't need them to be followed. I call B.S. Sure nobody likes to admit it but we all need the rules to be followed. Do you really want a guy/girl calling you all the time and appearing needy? Of course not. Do you really want to hear about someone's ex on the first date knowing that this person is clearly not over the ex? Of course not.

Yes in a perfect world people would be open and honest with each other and the rules would not need to be followed. However, the problem is that you really need to get to know someone before you are willing to be open and honest there and to get to that point you need to go out on a few dates. The only way to do that is to follow the rules. Its a horrible catch-22.

Some people, it is rare, do not need the rules to be followed. However you are always safer follwing the rules because those who do not need the rules to be followed most likely won't mind if you do follow them. Whereas those who do need the rules followed will run away like crazy if you happen to break them.

How Lazy Am I

In keeping with the run of short and completely useless blog topics ....

We, like most offices, have those little packets of sugar so people can have some sugar in their coffee.

The other day I got a cup of coffee I thought to myself, "I'm gong to bring my own sugar in to work."

Why do you ask? Is the sugar from my house better? No, I'm just lazy. I use a lot of sugar in my coffee, usually 5 packets, and I'm tired of opening all the little packets of sugar and pouring them into my cup. This was even further enforced this weekend when we went out to breakfast Sunday morning and I had several cups of coffee. As I poured the sugar into my cups of coffee I thought to myself, "Thank god I don't have to open all those little packets."

Keeping it Real

On my way to the gym one night I saw a homeless man with a sign.

"Lets keep it real. I just want to have a beer. Thank you"

I have to say that while I don't just give money to people on the street I was almost tempted to give this man a dollar. At least he was being honest with what he was going to do with my charity.

Being a Player

Saw a guy wearing a shirt that had written on it something like, "True Player". If you have to advertise the fact that you are a "player" doesn't that instantly make you not a player?

Baseball's Hypocrisy

Yesterday Baseball announced the candidates for the Baseball Hall of Fame. Among those on the ballot for the first time is Darryl Strawberry. Not on the ballot once again is Baseball's all-time hit king Pete Rose.

I am not here to argue whether or not Pete Rose belongs in the Hall of Fame. I find it a little ridiculous that the all time leader in hits isn't in the Hall but Baseball's cardinal rule is that you do not bet on Baseball. He did and he has to live with the consequences. I'm fine with that.

But let me get this straight. It is OK to take drugs, cocaine no less, and get suspended from the game 3 times for it but it is not OK to bet on the game? Darry Strawberry admits to having a drug problem. It is pretty obvious that he was probably high in a lot of games. Yet Baseball will look the other way when it comes to drugs. The argument why gambling is so bad is that it hurts the fabric of the game. Sure I buy that but guys juiced up on steroids don't hurt the fabric or integrity of the game? If baseball cared so much about the "fabric of the game" wouldn't it have a better drug policy than the current lame ass policy?

Think about it. Your kid comes back from college and he is going to tell you one of two things.

1. Dad, I have a cocaine problem. I get high 3 times a day.
2. Dad, I have a gambling problem. I lost $1000 at the track last week.

If its #1 I'm worrying and probably out of my mind. If its #2 I'm worried but I can work with it. What is baseball trying to say?

My point is that if you are going to say gambling keeps you out of the hall then taking drugs, being a racist, and beating your wife should keep you out too.

Dell's Super Customer Service

Since I blog about when I don't get good customer service I will blog about when I do get good customer service.

About a week ago I noticed that my Dell Axim X30 was broken. The screen was just white and nothing I did would restore it. I know I didn't break it myself because I almost never use the device and it was just sitting on my desk for the longest time. I dreaded calling customer service because these things are a pain in the butt.

I waited and waited through all the computer menus (truly a Dilbert moment) until I was finally connected to a live operator and explained the problem. Yes the screen is broken, No I didn't do it, yes I tried rebooting it.

But surprisingly he didn't ask too many questions and said that Dell would send me a replacement and that I just had to send my broken one back in the same box. What? You mean you aren't going to make me send mine back, take a look at it, tell me what I just told you was wrong with it and then wait another month to send me a replacement? I was just floored. What was even more shocking that the replacement came THE NEXT DAY. I mean I called the place at like 3:00 p.m. that afternoon and the replacement comes by 11:00 the next morning. I put the broken one in the box and sent it on its way. No hassle whatsoever. That's how customer service should be done.

All I can say is Snaps to Dell (sorry watched Legally Blonde 2 this weekend. I don't recommend it)

Happy Turkey Day

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

You know what my favorite thing about Thanksgiving is? People are so nice when you have nothing to do. Last year Jenny invited me to her families get together and I had a great time. This year lots of people have asked me if I would like to go with them to Thanksgiving.

This year I decided to decline all the offers and just stay at home, watch some movies, and hang out with the cat but all the invites were very appreciated.

Everyone have a nice long weekend and see you all when we get back. I may or may not blog during the break but otherwise see you on Monday.

Working Long Hours

EA, the video game maker, is facing a lawsuit from workers complaining about the long working hours.

I couldn't believe it when I read it. These are people who are in an industry most programmers are dying to get into. I'm betting a lot of programmers would be willing to work 100 hour weeks for minimum pay to get into this very competitive industry. Further, its not like EA underpays their employees. I'm betting many of these people earn six figures or at least have the potential to earn six figures in a few years.

My favorite part of the article is "The comments depict an industry that expects employees to put in many work weeks of 60 hours or more, with little attention to helping employees balance work and family needs." I HATE THIS EXCUSE. I know people with families need to spend more time with their families but does that mean us single guys need to pick up the slack or should be expected to work longer hours? I don't expect any more or any less from my employees if they are single or have families. Everyone has personal stuff they would rather be doing than work but it is your choice to have a family or not. I choose not to have a family and focus on my career. Am I to be punished for that or should you be given more favorable treatment?

I don't really have a problem with people complaining to their employer if they believe the work conditions are too harsh. It is important that employees are happy and that their concerns are addressed. But filing a lawsuit? That's a little much. If you complain to your employer and he says, "you know what we expect people to work 80 hours and that is that" than you need to find another job. Most of the employees who work for me work between 40 and 50 hours. The work isn't as glamorus or as fun as making video games but its a lifestyle choice that my employees have made.

Taxing the Rich: Part 2

This is a follow up to my original post that asked the question whether it really is a good idea to tax the rich more heavily. There are many people who have the idea that the rich will just grin and bear it and won’t alter their behavior if we as a society decide to tax them more. They, after all, have the ability to pay and will just continue to work hard no matter how much the rest of society decides to tax them. I had several interesting conversations this past weekend that would say otherwise.

While visiting some friends this weekend I had conversations with several people looking for jobs after they graduate from Harvard Business School. Most HBS grads can be fairly certain of receiving job offers in the six-figure range and of course this salary has the potential to grow very rapidly in the succeeding years. These graduates, and others from various MBA programs, are the drivers of the economy. Many will start business that will create billions of dollars and provide jobs for thousands of workers. At the very least, their salaries will provide much needed spending and tax revenues wherever they decide to live.

On more than one occasion a student told me they were looking at job opportunities on the West Coast. Mainly California and Seattle. Many of those students said that they were leaning toward Seattle for the simple reason that taxes were lower and that their prospective job offers from the companies in California did not reflect the added cost of living. After you factor in California’s Income Tax, High Sales Tax, and High Property tax you have to earn a lot more than you would in a state like Washington that has no Income Tax.

So those who argue that raising taxes will have no noticeable impact on the rich need to think hard about what they believe is right. My stance on this issue isn't because I'm greedy for myself. If these students and others like them decide to move to a different state they take their income, and all their tax dollars with them. In the end, you are just hurting the poor you are desperately trying to help.

Outrunning a Squirrel

Quick note to Jenny. The top speed of a squirrel is 12.0 mph. I'm sure I can run faster than that.

The Trip Part 2

I actually have a lot of other thigns to blog about but I'll give a quick update about my trip and then save the other post for some other time.

So the rest of the trip went fine. Strange enough on my trip from Philly to L.A. I got the "S" again on my ticket and had to go through the extensive screening process again. I wonder what algorithm the airlines use to mark people for a security screening. There is no way it is random because the chances of me getting it on 3 consecutive flights has to be pretty small.

I really enjoyed seeing Jenny again. I got to meet a lot of her friends and I liked them all. I'm glad I can leave my humanitarian efforts on Jenny in good hands :) It is always strange to go back on to campus. The students look younger and younger and the buildings keep changing. Isn't the world supposed to stop when I'm not around?

I don't really have that much to say about the rest of the trip. It was kind of low key and nothing terribly exciting except I started kicking Jenny's butt, as soon as her beginner's luck wore off, at Hand and Foot and I saw The Incredibles which I think may be the best animated flick ever produced.

The Trip Part 1

I've travelled a lot in my life. My experience at LAX this past Saturday might have been the worse. No one thing was bad but taken all together the experience was awful.

So I get to the airport but I have a stupid paper ticket. Why Orbitz insisted I have a paper ticket is beyond me. I have no baggage to check, I never do, but still had to wait in some awful line to get my boarding pass. Arrrgh. Of course, once again I get flagged for a security check. Normally I don't care and in an old blog I talked about this airport insecurity but like a good passenger I made no complaints. Of course there was an odd number of people flagged for inspection and not nearly enough people to do the inspection so the extra-security line was much longer than all the others.

I get inspected and of course nothing but now, becasue I had a paper ticket and the security check, I'm running a little late. I'm always the type to arrive in plenty of time but now I know its going to be close. I get to the gate and they have already boarded the plane, this by the way blows my seating priority, I was 1 and would have boarded first.

Anyway, by the time I get on the plane there are no overhead compartments so I have to check my bag. I'm a good sport about it and just check the bag. Oh well. 20 minutes into the flight I get my beverage, a cup of water. Like a clumbsy oaf I spill it all over myself and thus had to sit on the plane for 5 hours with a damp shirt.

Again, none of these are a big deal and truth be told at no time was I really upset. Just an unfortunate set of circumstances which makes me remember how much I HATE travelling on airlines.

And of course I get off the plane and there is snow on the ground. Friggin snow! It was 70 when I left L.A. Why do people live over here again?

Really Busy

So things have been hectic around here which is why I did not post yesterday and I'm not really posting today. I have a couple of saved drafts that I could post but don't feel like even finishing those up right now.

Going to head back east this weekend. Its cold there and I was realizing that I really don't have all that much warm stuff anymore. I don't want to bring my heavy jacket but it looks like I might have to and I don't really like the sweaters I have so I might have to go do some shopping before i leave tomorrow.

If I don't blog for a while know that it is not because I'm lazy but because I don't have access to a computer. My next blog will probably have to be from Jenny's computer if she is nice enough to let me use it :)

Problems with Netflix AND Blockbuster

For all those reading this trying to figure out if you should join Netflix or Blockbuster I'm here to tell you JOIN NETFLIX. I am so mad at Blockbuster. I'm not 100% satisfied with Netflix either, and I hope the DVD price wars will foster some good competition, but at least they didn't piss me off.

So in the end of my comparison between Netflix and Blockbuster I decided to go to Netflix. It wasn't that tough of a choice given the better service and wider selection.

But Blockbuster went and did it. I returned all my movies back to Blockbuster about 3 days after I cancelled my membership. I got emails confirming that they got back 2 of the 3 movies and figured that they didn't send the third as it would close out my account. I was wrong. I get an email from them about 2 weeks later stating they are going to charge me for Underworld, the third movie. They were going to charge $21 to my credit card for a movie I know I returned. Why would I keep this movie? It wasn't even all that great.

I called Customer Service and waited, I'm not exaggerating, 25 minutes for someone to pick up the phone. As soon as they answered I explained to them that I returned the movie and that I can't be held responsible for the USPS losing it. They refunded the money without too much of a problem but I was still fuming over the fact that they charged me in the first place and that I had to wait so long to get it resolved.

Netflix has not been without its problems. They did send me a DVD that was broken at the end of the disk. I had to return it and get a replacement which is kind of silly because I wasted a return to catch the last, and obviously most important, 20 minutes of the movie. Also, the turnaround time has gotten a little slower. Before I would return the DVD and get a replacement in 3 days. 1 day there, process, 1 day back, on the next day DVD arrives at my door. Now it is more like 1 day there, process, 2 days back, on the next day DVD arrives.

None of this is probably their fault as the DVD may have gotten damaged during shipping and they don't control the USPS. However it is there business model and one which I think will definitely rub customers the wrong way going forward.

Firefox 1.0 Released

Since according to Jenny I must be selling it, I am telling you all that Firefox 1.0 was released today. Get it while its hot. If you are still using Internet Exploiter I suggest you switch. Here is why.

• Better Security - You are less vulnerable to internet attacks
• Tabbed Browsing - If you don't know what this is you don't know what you are missing out on
• Built in pop up blocking - Nuff Said.
  
• Many Many plugins are available so you can customize both the look and the operation

Need more reasons? Try here, here, and here.

Happy Browsing!

Best Buy and the Devils

I have started reading the Wall Street Journal on a daily basis. The CFO of my company, who has recently left, used to get it delivered to him every day. Since he is gone the receptionist has been nice enough to give me the paper instead. Its funny, when I was young I thought I would never read the WSJ. I thought only old stuffy men read that paper. I guess I have become old and stuffy.

I found an interesting article today on the front page about Best Buy. It seems as if Best Buy wants to get rid of the "devil" customers. These are the customers who only come to the store to buy loss leaders like discounted DVDs or those who return merchandise to the store only to buy it back when it gets sold as an open item.

I have my doubts about this strategy but it looks like it is working at some of the pilot stores. There is no doubt that as a business it is better to focus on your higher profit customers than those who cost you to lose money but my doubts come from the ability to correctly identify and thus cater to the right customers.

I'm the perfect example. I am a high-income male who is a tech geek. I'm probably Best Buy's perfect target demographic except for one thing, I love a good deal and don't just waste my money. I often go to Best Buy just because it has great deals on things like DVDs. Since I'm used to shopping there I will often go to buy other items too. Now if Best Buy does away with some of its great deals I will be less likely to shop there for other things. I find myself going to Best Buy sometimes just to see if they have any good deals and end up buying something else.

Will the strategy work, I don't know. But it will be interesting to find out if Best Buy continues with the strategy and to see where it is in 5-10 years.

(Not the)Funniest Movie Ever

This weekend I rented Bruce Almighty. I'm not normally a Jim Carey fan but I watched it because Jenny's dad claimed that it was the funniest movie ever and actually got in a fight with her when she didn't agree. (Keep that in mind Jenny Smith Trivia buffs)

I have to say, I agree with Jenny. It was funny but come on, the funniest movie ever? There were moments when I laughed out loud, I thought the post-it prayers were pretty funny, but at other times I thought it was all kind of ridiculous.

My Vison: Four Months Later

OK, this should probably be the final istallment about how my Lasik Procedure went barring any sudden blindless that might strike me.

Yesterday I went back to Dr. Assil's office for my check up after I had my touch-up. I have to say that I'm happy with my sight. Sometimes my eyes feel a little dry but that is to be expected. Every once in a while my sight gets a little wonky but it usually corrects itself in a few minutes. Overall my sight is very good. Probably better than when I had contacts. The doctor measured it at 20/15 and I could see that line pretty clearly.

My life has definitely changed now. My eyes aren't irritated nearly as much and I never have to worry about falling asleep with my contacts or remembering to bring a case wherever I go just in case I end up spending the night. Overall, well worth the money. I highly suggest it to anyone thinking about it.

Dr. Assil did a fine job. I think he is starting to become very very popular though which can be somewhat annoying. I hear his ads on the radio all the time and I get a hit or two a day on this little blog for people looking for info. Yesterday, I had to wait about 45 minutes just to see the doctor and for them to tell me I can see well. Yeah, big surprise. I know that Doctors are busy and it is hard to get an appointment but maybe I'm just old school in thinking that if you get an appointment you should be seen at that time plus or minus 10 minutes or so.

Update: For full story you should also see these post

All Lasik Post

Election 2004: The Aftermath

This will be my last political post for a long time as I'm sure most of us probably have had as much politics as anybody can handle.

Well Bush won. I was pretty upset about the whole thing last night but I've moved on. It is what it is and getting upset about the whole thing isn't going to undo it. In many respects it is better for me as I will probably have lower taxes and I leave a pretty normal life so I'm not too afraid of them knocking down my door because the suspect I'm a terrorist, at least I'm not scared yet.

So what happened? I'm not bitter and I'm not going to say that a majority of Americans are idiots. Bush won by a significant margin not to mention the Republicans strengthened their hold on both houses of Congress. Here is what I think happened to the Democrats.

Wrong Man

The Democrats might want to think about how they choose their candidate. Kerry was an absolutely awful choice to run for the Presidency. The man is notoriously liberal and most of America is in the center. Further, the man just isn't all that likeable. He definitely isn't Bill Clinton or Barack Obama. Yes, I voted for Kerry but for me it was the lesser of two evils. But most people are not as socially liberal as I am so I can see how many Americans would be turned off by the whole thing.

Wrong Message

America isn't buying what the Democrats are selling. I do not think it is a fluke that the Republicans won the Presidency and both houses. America is concerned with the Economy, Terrorism, and the morality of America. Things they clearly think that the Republicans are better equipped to handle.

Democrats are much more popular with the poor and youth of America, people who notoriously do not come out to vote. Further, in times of economic hardship it is a hard sell to say that people should pay more taxes and expand government to boost the economy. People care about their own situation and want their lives to be better. The American people have spoken, and they have said that they feel safer with George Bush in the White House than John Kerry. Perhaps people, and I'm not making a judgment here, really are fed up with the amount of taxes that we all pay and are willing to give up some of their civil liberties in order to get some relief. I don't know.

Wrong Time

The timing is just off. Iraq and terrorism are still big issues and people clearly feel Bush is better equipped to handle the problem. Further, the economy is bad but shows some signs of recovery. This may make people scared to jump ship at this point and go in a new direction.

So there you have it. I'm an optimist and hope that things get better over the next 4 years. Like I said, for me personally they probably will. I just hope the rest of the country is there with me in 4 years.

Why I am Not a Republican

Yesterday I wrote about why I am not a Democrat. Today I will write about why I am not a Republican.

It's a shame because if the Republicans were to just stick with the principles of what the Republican party was founded I might be a Republican. Republicans believe in small government and they believe laissez-faire capitalism. But somewhere along the way the Party of Lincoln lost its way.

There is one main reason I'm not voting Republican this year, George W. Bush. The man is a complete moron, but really this is a problem much deeper than one man. Somehow the Republican party has been corrupted by the Religious Right. How this marriage made in hell was formed I do not know.

Somehow the Party became about imposing moral and religious beliefs onto the rest of the nation. It became the party of Anti-Abortion, Anti-Gays, and Anti-Free speech. It is now Pro-Christian, Pro-Gun, and Pro-Dumb-Ass-Leaders.

So long as the Religious Right have a voice in the party I will not vote for a Republican candidate. Not only do I not share these beliefs but even if I did I would not impose them on other people. My government should be about opening up choices for me, not limiting them because of some religious belief I do not share.

There are of course other problems I have with Republicans. Top on the list is the Patriot Act. How idiotic is it to remove our freedoms so we can protect our freedom? Let's infiltrate peaceful Muslim Groups just to make sure they aren't planning a terror attack. Let's collect personal information about every American just to make sure they aren't committing crimes, after all if you have nothing to hide what does it matter? This is wrong. You can not treat people this way. Let me repeat. YOU CAN NOT TREAT PEOPLE THIS WAY. I actually heard people say after 9/11 they felt scared when they saw a Muslim person on the plane. How stupid are these people? Why don't we just lock up all the Muslims and why we are at it all the Black and Asian people? That way we can be sure that all the White people can feel safe.

Even a lot of the economic policy is crazy. While by no means Anti-Big-Business, I definitely do not believe government should be deciding winners and losers either by handing certain corporations and farms subsidies. Certainly Republican ties to things Enron and Halliburton are a little bit concerning to say the least.

I hate to say it but I'll vote Republican when they put someone on the ticket that won't impose his or her religious beliefs on to the rest of society. Its sad. I will take my social concerns over my economic concerns even if I think in many ways they are linked. While I know many people think the Republican party is anti-poor I actually believe in the long run free markets benefit the poor. But that is a different topic for another day.