Mandatory Tipping

On the subject of tipping. Why is it compulsory to tip? When did this happen? Whenever I go to a restaurant, no matter how bad the service is, I always tip the 15-20% standard. Why? I'm getting to the point where I'm thinking I'm going to refuse to do this but then I get badgered into thinking otherwise (like in Reservoir Dogs).

People always say one of two things. That its part of the waiter's wage and they need to make a living or that you are paying for the service in a restaurant. I'm sorry. I have to completely disagree with both these arguments.

A waiter is paid a wage. Now I understand that restaurants may pay their waiters less than they would otherwise but that should still not make tipping mandatory. Could you imagine if I went to my boss and said, "I wrote an excellent piece of code for that module. I think you should give me a 15% bonus this week"? My boss would laugh me right out of the building. If a waiter needs the money that badly then they should work harder to earn that tip. I have absolutely no problem leaving a big tip if I think the service is exceptional. (I've left tips in excess of 50% before) Somehow we have become a society where we think we are owed certain things. That's BS. Life doesn't owe anyone anything.

And the argument about paying for the service. Are you kidding me? That's why you go to a restaurant!! The price of the service is built into your meal. You don't tip your dentist do you? He provides a service for you does he not? Most people don't tip their mechanic but how is this much different than a waiter?

My point is not to say that you should never tip. Quite the contrary. I probably tip more than almost anyone I know. I just think its ridiculous that we have become a society where we think you HAVE to tip.

My Lasik Experience

As a public service I am re-posting this which is from my original blog. Toward the end of my other blog this became one of the more popular searches to my site. I enjoy sharing my experience with others so that they can decide for themselves if Lasik is right for them. If you have any comments feel free to post a comment and I will be happy to share some more.


I was going to wait to discuss my Lasik procedure until things settled down somewhat but my roommate Sandy suggested that I blog about it on a daily basis so I have some record of my experience. So here goes.

I got my eyes done by Dr. Kerry Assil of the Assil Sinskey Eye Institute in Santa Monica. I traveled all the way to Santa Monica because I had heard that Dr. Assil was one of the best in Los Angeles and figured I had only one set of eyes so I might as well get it done by the best. He also came highly recommended by an ex-coworker of mine and he was a VSP doctor so I got a significant discount on my procedure.

Dr Assil used the latest WaveScan technology with a VisxS4 laser. This particular technology is especially suited for someone like me because I have very large pupils.

The entire process was VERY quick. The speed at which everything happened made it both easier and more uncomfortable. I got to the office and signed in. They immediately gave me some meds and told me to wait a few minutes. They called me back to get one last reading of my prescription. I thought that after they got my prescription it would be a few minutes because I was pretty sure there were some more people ahead of me. As it turned out Dr. Assil came in at the end of my measurement and I was escorted into the operating room.

Dr. Assil checked out my eyes again and made a few markings on my eye. Then I was placed in the chair and the whole thing began. From the moment I sat in the chair until I got up and could see again was about 15 minutes or so. The actual part of the procedure where they cut open the cornea and apply the laser to my eye probably only lasted about 4 minutes each eye. They cut open the eye (which only took about 20 seconds or so) and removed the flap. They did another quick scan of the eye and than applied the laser with the actual laser being used maybe 30 seconds or so. After they used the laser I could spell something funny which may or may not have been the fried smell of my own eyeball. Kind of disgusting when you think about it huh? As I got up from my seat and looked around things were somewhat cloudy. It was described to me that it would look like I had vaseline on my eyes and that is exactly what it looked like.

They did one last look at my eyes, put these stupid plastic cups over me (which I had to wear all day and the tape hurt like hell this morning removing it. Removing the tape was the most painful part of the whole thing) and I was sent home. I was told not to do any reading or computer work (which if you know me drove me nuts) but I could watch TV. I was annoyed at only being able to watch TV so I went to bed early, 9:30 or so (I was specifically told not to nap yesterday because it dries out your eyes but everyone else I know is told to sleep immediately after), and just got up early and came to work.

So what do I think now? Like I said the rapidness of the procedure made it both good and bad. Good because I didn't have any time to be nervous, it just happened so quickly. Bad because it all seemed kind of rushed and the last thing I wanted was something to be rushed during the operation.

I can't say that the procedure was life-altering. Right now it looks and feels like I have a very dirty and dry pair of contacts on. My vision isn't super clear and my eyes are somewhat irritated. From my understanding this is all very normal in the first few weeks and I will probably discuss it more with the doctor today during my post-op check up. I hope that my vision sharpens up significantly. I'm hoping that I get vision at least as good as it was when I had contacts otherwise I'm not so sure it was all worth it. I like not being tied down to my contacts or glasses, it was nice to be able to see my clock at night and not have to fumble around for my glasses this morning, but I wouldn't necessarily want that at the expense of the clarity of my vision.

I will write about it a few more times over the next few weeks to let you know if things get any better or any worse. I will reserve final judgment until a few weeks from now when my vision should be more or less stable.

UPDATE: For the full story you should see these followups

All Lasik Post

Bright Light Hell

In preparation for getting Lasik I had my comprehensive exam yesterday. It is an exam where they do all sorts of things to you to make sure that your eyes are healthy enough to undergo the procedure.

One of the things they do to you is check the health of your retina. They do this by dilating your eyes and shining a VERY bright light into them. Yesterday when they did this to me I decided it would be an excellent way to torture someone. I can't tell you how painful this was for me yesterday. Just thinking about it now brings tears to my eyes.

No I know what most people are thinking. I have had this done to me before and it wasn't that bad. Well I have too but I don't remember it being this painful. Maybe the light they used was extra bright. Maybe the doctor just took a lot longer than most to ensure the health of my eyes. Whatever it was it hurt like hell. And I only had to endure it for about a minute and a half in each eye. If you did that for a long period of time to someone I can't imagine them not passing out from the pain.

Americans are Sheep

OK, that may sound a little harsh but I really do believe it is true to some degree. Today Saddam Hussein was captured and America rejoiced. Consequently Bush's approval rating will go through the roof as American's jump on the bandwagon and applaud his great leadership.

Most American's will forget that the war is a farce. A part of me is relieved that he is finally captured but truth be told what does it really matter? Does that mean the troops can come home now? No. Do I feel America is safer now? Not really.

We all must remember what really happnened here. We overthrew a foreign government. Granted he was oppressing his people but the fact remain that we took it upon ourselves to say what was good for the Iraqi people and ousted their leader. Its a little self-righteous if you ask me.

Oh I forgot, the war wasn't about getting rid of Saddam. It was about finding the Weapons of Mass Destruction. We found those right?

Wait I'm sorry again. This war was about stopping terrorism. I mean after the 9/11 attacks we had to stop Al Queda. Wait, wasn't that Osama Bin Laden? Oh, I guess it doesn't matter. All Muslims are the same anyway right?

Nice Guys Do Finish Last

Haven't blogged in a while because work has been really busy.

There was this show on NBC called Average Joe. It is another one of those reality shows but this time all the men from which to choose are just "Average" and some were way below average. Now I only watched half of one show but the show recently ended and I thought it was interesting.

Toward the end of the series they introduced a few good looking guys. The twist being that would this beautiful girl choose the nice average guy or the studly hunk. The show came down to two guys, "average" Adam and "hunky" Jason. To keep a long story short she chose Jason.

Now here is my take. Like I said, I didn't really watch the series too much but here is what I do know. Adam seemed like a genuinely nice guy. He wasn't ugly but he wasn't good looking. He is a very successful stock trader in NYC and at age 27 has amassed a small fortune. Jason on the other hand is a 26 year old student in Irvine and lives at home with his parents. He seemed nice enough, not terribly arrogant, but didn't have the "sweet" quality that Jason had. Now, not that money is everything but I think what you do in life and how you live say a lot about who you are.

Before I say anything else I have a disclaimer, I know what I am about to say DOES NOT apply to all women so don't barrage me with comments how all women aren't like this.

It did not surprise me to see her pick the live-at-home hunk. Most women, actually every women I have ever talked to, say that they prefer personality to looks and blah blah blah..... I have always contended that when it comes down to it though, women are as bad as men and will often overlook every other quality in a guy if he is good looking. Not that this show proved my point but it just reinforces my belief.

Its funny because last night I was talking to two women who were berating their love life and how all guys they have dated were either losers or liars. Well Duh. I think the problem that a lot of women have who continunally get in bad relationships is that they tell themselves that they really care about personality but when push comes to shove they choose the looker. They wonder why the hunk they chose isn't nice to them or is a bum or cheats on them when they probably looked passed a hundred decent guys because they were in love with their boyfriend's pecs. Let me let all you women in on a secret. Now while this doesn't apply to all men (I don't think it applies to me) a man's likelihood of cheating is DIRECTLY proportional to his opportunity to do so. Since a man's opportunity to do so is directly proportional to his relative attractiveness you can see why a lot of good looking guys cheat on their girlfriends.

I think we would all be better off if most women just admitted that they are like most men, looks come first and carries much more weight than most women are willing to admit.

Wal-Mart and the Middle Class

I don't normally like to touch on similar topics relatively close together but I read several articles about Wal-Mart in the past week and it made me do some thinking. The first article, by Fast Company, is a nice, albeit long, article about Wal-Mart's tactics in the Market Place. The Los Angeles Times did a three part story where it too addressed Wal-Mart's tactics but also touched on its Global influence as well as it's Global Image.

Here is the topic of the day. Why do people who should know better shop at Wal-Mart and what should be a middle-class job?

Wal-Mart is a behemoth. It is the largest company in the world. Notice I didn't say "largest retailer", it is the largest company period. Bigger than Microsoft, bigger than GM, even bigger than GE. It's revenue tops $245 Billion a year.

The only way it does this is through pure volume. That means a lot of people are shopping at Wal-Mart. Even though I have given up shopping at Wal-Mart I don't hold it against anybody if they do because you can't argue that they don't have lower prices. My problem is that I don't think people realize what they are doing. Or maybe they do but they just don't care. I don't shop at Wal-Mart, partly out of deference for Sergio, but partly because I have problems with some of their practices. The economist in me thinks its great, they eliminate waste at every turn, but I realize that there is a human cost to that.

American's are funny. We want high-quality products. We want them to be environmentally friendly. We want them to be humanely produced. We want a good lifestyle. However when push comes to shove we will forgo some of these things for a great bargain. I don't think people realize that cheap prices have a cost. Something has to give and with Wal-Mart they push so hard for quality that it almost inevitably comes from someone's lifestyle, the worker who produced the good. They not only use cheap labor in their stores but they basically force their suppliers to have cheap labors in their plants. Its a double-edged sword. Wal-Mart has such low prices that people will shop there to stretch out their dollar more. This in effect makes them "wealthier" because they have money for other things. However, everything is interconnected so eventually to sustain these low prices cost must be reduced at the supplier level which eventually leads to lower wages. Of course this makes shopping at Wal-Mart even more of a necessity and the cycle continues.

Not everyone has the luxury I do in that I can choose to pay slightly more for products by not shopping at Wal-Mart. I'm sure some people think that there small little purchases won't make a difference. Well let me tell you something, it does. That's how Wal-Mart gets you, Billions and Billions of small little purchases.

Like I have said, I don't really have a problem with Wal-Mart, at least not like some people do. I kind of agree with them that if you can do it for less than you should. If someone is willing to do the same job for less money why shouldn't an employer hire the other person? Don't argue that the quality of the work won't be the same because if that were the case the consumer wouldn't buy the product, the consumer has the loudest voice of all, their money.

One of their VPs, Robert S. McAdam, said "If we have an advantage,it's that we are offering what people want." I couldn't agree with him more. In the end it is the consumer which decides what will and will not work. The basic point of this rather long blog is this. What is a middle class job? Is packing groceries deserving of a middle-class income? How about a check out clerk? If Americans believe that these are then they would need to make that decision and be willing to pay more for their groceries and other sundry items. However, I think America is speaking loud and clear, they want what is best for themselves RIGHT NOW, and that means the low low Wal-Mart prices. I think the middle-class is about to get a lot smaller.

Union Clarification

I light of my stand on the current California labor strikes I have been labeled by some to be "anti-union". I want to clarify my position a little.

I am not anti-union. In fact I believe Unions are a good thing under certain circumstances. If the employer has a monopoly on employment then I believe the workers should have a monopoly on the labor. This is the case in pro sports and in small towns where one factory is the life-blood of a community. I believe that unions have created a strong middle class in America and are responsible for many of the gains that workers now enjoy.

However, my belief is that people need to be somewhat realistic. In this day and age unions make less sense. With people having the ability to find work at a variety of places I believe that if you are unhappy with your employer you should find a new one.

That is not my point. I actually have no problem with Union grocery workers on strike. In fact, I really hope they win because what they are fighting for is health care, and everyone should have health care.

But this is my point. They have to realize that there union drives up prices at their stores. Don't believe it? Go to a Wall-Mart superstore where they don't have unions. The prices there are significantly less.

Now I believe most people if given the choice will shop where there are lower prices. A few people, myself included, refuse to shop at Wal-Mart because of what they stand for. But not everyone has that luxury. I can easily see a scenario where the Grocery Union wins (which by the way I don't think will happen because the grocery chains seem adamant) but they really lose because the Grocery stores will be unable to compete against non-union labor and be forced to close. That will leave everyone unemployed and probably working at Wal-Mart anyway. Worse, it will reduce competition in the market making things worse off for the average consumer.

Basketball Double Standard

I really don't understand why when it comes to sports there is a double standard in regards to the age in which people can start playing professionally.

Every time the NBA draft comes around and the latest High-school phenom gets drafted people are up in arms about how he should go to college and he is missing out on so much by not attending a university.

Today a 14 year old soccer phenom, Freddy Adu, signed a 6 year contract with MLS today. The kid is 14 years old but nobody is saying anything. This happens all the time in sports like Tennis and Golf but nobody says anything then either. In Baseball, kids go straight out of high school into the farm systems of Major League clubs and guess what .... nobody says a word.

So how come when some kid comes out to play some hoops all of a sudden it's the end of the world?

Local Number Portability

Local Number Portability is about to take effect at the end of the month. For those of you who don't know what this is it basically gives you the right as a consumer to take your cell phone number with you to a new carrier. It used to be that if you switched from say Sprint to T-Mobile you would lose the number associated with your cell phone.

Well all that is going to change. And my comment is, big deal. I think people over-estimate the importance of their phone number. I recently switched my cell phone number and you know how many people called me on my old phone looking for me? 0. I kept the old phone for a month and I didn't receive a single call as soon as I sent out an email telling everyone that my number had changed.

All the important people in your life will just update their own cell phone or organizer with your new number and not even think twice about it. The only concern are those few people who you might talk to once a year or something but how important is it that they be able to call you anyway. If they are that important I'm sure you would have emailed them to the change in your number. If they really want to get a hold of you I'm sure they could if they tried.

I Knew Microsoft Was Evil But This ....

I actually have a whole list of topics I could talk about but I don't really feel like any of them today. So I'm going to write about something interesting that Sergio sent me.

Here is a page that describes what software all the different presidential candidates are running on their websites. Now I kind of doubt that they have any say, or even really care, what software their ISP is running but I think it is kind of funny that W is running Microsoft and IIS while most of the Democratic candidates are running some flavor of Unix and Apache. Gephardt isn't but isn't he really a Republican anyway?

Now most of you know how I feel about Microsoft and how I feel about Republicans. I just think that this is pretty funny. My favorite fact though is how the RNC is also running Microsoft and it measures its uptime in days where as the Democrats run Linux and have an uptime measuring in Months.

Kobe Or Shaq?

This topic is getting kind of old huh? Once again Shaq and Kobe are at it in the media taking jabs at each other. Is it me or is this straight out of Kindergarten? These two need to realize one thing, they don't win three championships without each other. That's why the Lakers didn't win it last year (no Shaq) and that's why Shaq never won anything until Kobe became the player he is today.

That being said, what should the Lakers do? If you had to choose one what would you do? Let me say one thing is for certain, without Shaq the Lakers aren't doing anything right now. The way they are built, they need Shaq. He is truly unstoppable when he wants to be and he is in shape. Nobody in the league has anybody else who can match up. That being said I take Kobe. Huh?

OK, first off Kobe is younger. You're going to get 7 more years out of Kobe than you are with Shaq if not more. Shaq is on his way down the hill, Kobe is still looking up. Kobe, albeit not this year, stays in much better shape than Shaq. He improves on his game year in and year out. The NBA is a guards league. Guards dominate the game because they have the ball in their hands. Its a fast paced game where things have to happen quickly and throwing it in the paint is not wise unless you have a Shaq or a Tim Duncan. Now the last few championships have been won by teams with either Shaq or Tim Duncan which would seem to suggest that having the big man is more important. Well I would argue, yeah if he is Tim Duncan. Tim Duncan, as much as I hate to admit it, is better than Shaq is. Why would I say such a thing? Because Shaq is inconsistent. You know what Duncan is giving you, he gives it to you every night. Shaq has 1 MVP, Duncan 2 and Duncan is younger. The reason, Shaq gets hurt. He misses too many games.

But given all the above I was still leaning toward Shaq until I thought, would I rather have the Bulls teams of the 90's or the Lakers of now. The answer was the Bulls. How come? They had Jordan and he dominated the game from the two guard with almost no big man to speak of (unless you count Luc Longley?) In fact, he routinely beat Shaq and the Magic.

So for the long term I take Kobe. You're simply going to get more out of him, unless he goes to jail.

I'm Back!

Hi everyone! Sorry for the hiatus but I really didn't have internet access for a few days. For those who know me well know that I had withdrawal but now I'm back and feel much better.

Trip to NYC was fun. I got to see everyone I really wanted to. Didn't do anything really crazy or fun but that's because I lived there and didn't really feel like doing any of the touristy type things. Also didn't do the whole stay out until 4:00 a.m. NYC thing since I've been there and done that. Really just met up with some friends I hadn't seen in a while and had lunch or dinner. I miss my New York friends.

However, going back to the city convinced me of one thing, I was absolutely right to move back. Here is a partial list of why I never liked living in NYC.

• It's way too crowded. People bump into you and don't say "I'm sorry".
  
• Drivers are way too impatient. You can be stuck with 20 cars in front of you but the driver behind you insist on honking at you anyway.
  
• There always seems to be a police or ambulance siren.
  
• I pay 1/2 in rent what my other friends pay and have 3x the apartment.
  
• You have to sit next to people you don't know in restaurants.
  
• I had to wait 45 minutes to get a table for brunch in a small little cafe.
  
• The subways are great but being a native California I felt I had to walk way too much.
  

I'm sure I could think of other things but those just came off of my head. Don't get me wrong. There are plenty of advantages, but being who I am I just don't think they are worth it. Sure, some people love to stay out until 4:00 a.m. and then hit a diner afterwards. Those people just aren't me.

Friends My Ass!

OK, what is going on with Friends? I've written about this before but with this latest episode of Friends I have to write about it again. Ross and Rachael belong together. He is her Lobster. Joey isn't even Rachael's Tuna much less her lobster.

I mean, he has wanted her since High School. He dumped the nice Asian girl (Friends definately doesn't have enough Asian people though. Have you seen NYC. Lots of Asian people) for her. He dumped the hot bald girl for her. They have a baby togehter. He said her name at his second wedding. They were married. The list goes on and on and on .......

I shouldn't talk (All my High school friends stay quiet) but isn't this show called Friends? Not, hook up with whoever is next to you?

Renting vs. Buying

I had all these things I wanted to talk about before but forgot all of them. Oh well.

Today's topic is renting vs buying. The age old question that doesn't seem to have an answer. Are you one of those people who believe that renting an apartment is like throwing you money out the window? I use to be one of those people but I'm recently converted. Let me explain why.

Renting has MANY advantages. Chief among those

1. It's less expensive
2. You don't have to do your own repairs
3. You have freedom to move

You really can't underestimate the last two. I would eventually like to own my own home. I'm the type of guy that would be very much into fixing up my own home and being able to decorate the way I want to. However, when I thought about it I realized that I'm definitely not in the position to buy a house. It's not that I can't afford it, I probably could if I tried, but it really doesn't make any sense for me to. Here's why.

I have no idea what I'm going to be doing or where I will be in the next 5 years. At this age, I think it is really important to keep you options open. Buying a house locks you down for at least the next 5 years. It is pointless to buy a house only to sell it within 3 years because for the first 3 years you are paying mostly the interest and very little of the principle. If you do need to move you basically burned even more money by just handing it over to the bank, the real estate agents (Don't forget closing cost which can run Thousands of dollars), and insurance agents.

What if I get a great job offer in Seattle? The nice thing about my situation right now is that I could take it without much though. Not only do I not have a family but I don't have a house I have to sell. Freedom has its price, and for now, it is well worth it.

Ahead of my time

If you follow my blog you know that the two most popular searches are for "Should College Athletes get Paid" and for "Hard Drive Wrong Size"

Well today it was announced that there is going to be a lawsuit against Hard Drive manufacturers for the misleading practice of overstating the capacity of their hard drives. I of course complained about this months ago when I got my new hard drive and I found there to be significantly less capacity than I expected.

State of Women's Sports

The WUSA (Women's Soccer League) announced today that it will be closing up shop. They made the announcement because support of the league has dropped significantly sine its inception in 1999.

On several different radio shows today I have heard commentary how this is just terrible for sports, how it sets women back, how corporate America should sponsor these leagues, blah blah blah. I personally don't care if the WUSA, WNBA, and every other Women's pro sports team goes under. For that matter, I don't really care if the MLS (Men's Soccer League) closes either. I just don't particularly care about these particular leagues.

The fair-minded side of me wants to come out and say how bad it is that the Women's leagues don't really get a fair shake. How, if people would just give it a chance, we might really see something. That it is good for little girls everywhere to see women playing sports. But the rational, free-market side of me thinks that these leagues should not be alive if they can't sustain enough revenue.

I think that the reason it bothers me so much that people complain that we need these leagues is that people aren't putting their money where their mouths are. If it doesn't bother women that these leagues aren't surviving should it really bother anyone. Last time I checked, Women make up 50% of the population. For the most part, women have the same earning potential as men. Women obviously don't prioritize sports the way men do, or at the very least don't really care to pay to see other women play sports. If women really cared about seeing the advancement of women's sports than they would start attending games and buy merchandise. That isn't happening so if women don't care about other women how do they expect men to?

I heard an argument today that the reason corporate America doesn't sponsor women's sports like they do men's is because there are 50 year old men sitting in the CEO's office. What a load of S#!T. Do you think there is a CEO on this planet who, if he believed sponsoring a women's leagues would make him millions of dollars , wouldn't jump on that chance? Of course not. CEO's have jobs to make money, not neglect something because they are in the 'Old Boys Club' . This is a ludicrous as the WNBA threatening to go on strike. That's another story for another day.

Learning to Drive a Stick

Jenny was nice enough to take me to Forest Lawn to practice on a stick shift. I want to learn stick because I think its a practical thing to know how and everyone thinks I do anyway. For whatever reason whenever I say I don't know how to drive a stick someone always comments, "Really? I thought YOU would know how to drive a stick." I don't know why people assume that.

Thanks to the great teaching I was finally able to smoothly get the car into first gear. I can even get the car moving when I'm stopped on a hill. I still roll back a little but I was getting better toward the end and I wasn't stalling very much.

The lowlight of the experience is when I decided I was going to tackle my first major hill. I had been practicing on lots of little hills but decided I was going to go after one of the steeper ones. I went down the hill and turned it around to begin going up. I was stil on a relatively flat part of the hill on my first attempt but the car stalled. The first stall I had in the previous 5 or so minutes. Undaunted I tried again .... and again, and again. For whatever reason I couldn't get it moving. Jenny commented, "Don't be intimitaded". I knew it must be in my head because I had done this before. Well after about 7 stalls or so and me about to give up Jenny asked, "Are you in third?" Sure enough we put the car in first and I had no problem. Boy did I feel stupid.

In the end I had a huge headache, my driving wasn't too smooth at the beginning. However I definitely feel like I got the hang of it. I just need a little more practice.

The $180 Haircut

On my way into work this morning I was listening to Mike and Mike in the Morning on ESPN radio. One of the host, Mike, is well known for being a feminine man. That is, he moisturizes regularly, gets pedicures and manicures, and otherwise cares way too much about his appearance (Not that I don't).

However he went a step to far this morning. The other host, Mike, noticed that Mike had gotten a haircut. Mike often espouses the virtues of Hair Stylist over barbers. I personally agree with him which is whiy I go to 18/8. However today he related a story about how he went to a new stylist on the recommendation of a friend. At the end of the haircut he went to the front and got a bill for $180. No that is not a typo, $180.

Now I'm all for paying more than the $10 you will at a barber, I pay $25, but $180, are you serious? Even Mike was a little flabbergasted, he normally pays $60. This DID NOT include a manicure, pedicure, massage, highlights or anything like that. It didn't even include a tip. Just a haircut. How can any guy in his right mind pay that much for a haircut. Even if I had millions of dollars I wouldn't pay that much JUST for a haircut. Maybe if I got the full treatment but there is no way that there is a $155 difference between what I get and what I could get at a much fancier place. Since a guy has to get his haircut once a month how the heck can anyone afford $180?

Were #1

I was going to do the Friday Five today but it was really stupid this week and right before I found some great news. Once again Princeton is ranked #1 in the US News and World Report. It is the fourth year in a row, the first being in 2000, my last year there. This year we were tied with Harvard(sucks!).

It's funny. Even though I make a big deal of this in my blog in truth I really don't care. The people who take this ranking the most seriously are the incoming students and parents which is a real shame. These rankings have very little to do with how good a school really is. I guarantee that you can get the same level of education at any of the top 20 schools. I would go to certain school for certain things. I would never go to Princeton if I was going to be an actor (However we can claim Brooke Shields, David Duchovany, and Dean Cain) but I would go to USC. If I wanted to study Engineering I would go to MIT but maybe not Yale. . If I wanted an exciting Social Life or to meet lots of girls I would avoid Cal Tech altogether.

Something for Nothing

How unfair is this? The New York Jets are going to start charging their fans $50 to be on the waiting list for tickets. Not to actually get tickets, TO BE ON THE WAITING LIST.

How idiotic is this? Could you imagine being charged money while you wait in line to pay for groceries or a movie ticket. "Umm, excuse me. I know you haven't made up your mind yet on which movie to see but since you have the privilege of waiting in this very long line to buy your tickets we need to charge you a small fee." Yeah, that would go over well. The excuse, they want to "keep the fans in the family." What a load of S#!T. I don't know what type of family they have but I certainly don't charge my family money for nothing.

First 9/11, than the blackouts, now this. Is there ANY question now why I left this godforsaken city?