cool waves

i had my last class last night. the presentation went fine. i sped through my part, as i always due when i'm nervous. the worst part was, i had prepared note cards. but i had the first few memorized. so i was speaking very conversationally at first. then i'd get past the information from those first few cards, and have no idea what i was supposed to say. i took a jim rome pause (which is probably between 5 and 10) seconds to flip through and find my place in my note cards. that was the worst of it, so it wasn't so bad. but i have three assignments (quiz, final, final) until i can say i'm done.

when i first started back to school, my wife was my girlfriend, the astros were the defending national league champions and i had yet to discover my love of oatmeal.

there's not really anything in the news today except that over 500,000 jobs were cut in november. so if you have a job, be grateful.

have a good weekend.

blonde over blue

today, my friends, (can i start saying this again without visions of old, tired republicans?) is the last class day for the fall 2008 semester. tonight is my last class, not counting finals. i will have three assignments to do after tonight that will satisfy the requirements for graduation for the university of houston- downtown. it's so close, i can feel it.

great article from the economist. is saving money really coming into fashion, or is it like conversation when oil prices shot up this summer?

great list of reading material from infectious greed.

college tuition is quickly becoming a hit in the nuts. when i started in spring of 2006, the tuition increased some $600 dollars a semester by fall of 2008. that's incredible.

market volatility explained. we'll see about that.

uncorrected personality traits

i do not understand credit cards. i have never encountered anything like them in business. you sign a contract with them, and if the terms of the contract no longer favor the credit card company, they will change the terms of the contract and there is nothing you can do. they will also stagger billings so that it's more likely you'll miss a payment. then they charge you with a fee and jack up your interest rate. also, if you miss a payment on one, they report it and the other credit card companies will raise your rates as well. now with the current economic climate, credit card companies are raising your rates as much as 15% above your current rate. that is unacceptable.

i don't know about you, but i'm sick of it. i call for a complete and total boycott on credit cards. they have screwed me/us for the last time. use your debit card. use a check. don't use a credit card. use cash. use gold. barter if you have to, but don't use a credit card. this is bullshit. these companies who are "too big to fail" need to be kicked in the ass. they're poorly run. they practice deceiving business practices. they are of no good use. just because we've done it this way for so long doesn't mean we have to continue. live within your means and don't let these companies screw you.

on another note, langhorne slim's self titled album is pretty freakin' good. buy it with a debit card. or cash.

i haven't done a recipe in a while. but i'm sure everyone is tired of turkey and dressing. here is a recipe for garlic soup with potatoes and broccoli.

funny little frog

when i was younger, i would go to the mall with my mother. for whatever reason, she always chose to enter the mall through mervyns. maybe it was because no one else parked there, i don't know. but she rarely bought anything there. i didn't get any clothes from mervyns, but i always hated that place because it was the first we would look every time we went to the mall. well, mervyns is no more and here's how it happened.

oil prices only get attention when they're high. for some reason our elected officials are only willing to watch over oil speculation when prices are high. they should be watching all the time.

the recession is official. i'm so glad we're finally official.

the dow is down over 600 points today. stocks i've been tracking ticked up last week over the past month. i sure have a gut feeling though the holidays will be brutal and obama cannot make announcements everyday to appease wall street. once this thing is down around january, that will be the time to buy. if we get another week or two of upticks, i might be singing a different tune though.

i remember when i got back from my first european trip, i commented that florence was more beautiful than paris. take a look for yourself.

apparently U2 has a new album due out in february. i actually liked their last album quite a bit.