cut your hair

i've had a lot of things said to me in my life. some positive. some negative. and i think the thing that i would appreciate the most would be for an old man to say this to me:

"what you got there is a solid haircut."

kind of in a hank hill-type voice. i don't know why, but that would make me really proud.

only in dreams

so i had another crazy dream last night. i was at a basketball game, i believe, maybe football, but a game no less. i was sitting there with my wife and a friend, watching the game. so halftime comes along and they start throwing the balls into the crowd for someone to catch and throw it back into the basket, you know how they get crowds to participate and think they're part of the action. so a ball comes our way and my friend and i both catch it somewhat at the same time. i was a little earlier. but i relented and in the spirit of good times, let him throw it. and he made it, which was amazing considering how far back we were from the basket. we celebrate and rejoice his awesome shot and await the return of the game. then things get weird.

before the game restarts, i notice lots of people reading something and turning around and pointing at me. so i grab one of the newspapers and there's a story about me. the story describes the aforementioned ball-into-the-crowd-me-relenting-my-grip saga from above and how gay i am for doing it. and i'm not exaggerating for the story. the article called me gay for doing it. there is was in big headlines, "kevin is gay!" how did they know my name? first of all, i have no idea how a paper was produced that fast. that was amazing. those people were reading about me literally 20 seconds after it happened. and second of all, how is that gay? i was being considerate. so i found a guy passing out the papers and asked him who wrote the story. he said he did and he was some 17 year-old punk calling me out. well, we go back and forth and no one wins and i don't really remember how the rest of the dream went.

my main point is to be careful what you do and say because there will be a special edition printed about your actions and distributed all across the land.

plus he made the shot!!! that should negate the whole thing!! if he threw it like a baby and it hit some old woman in the head causing her to vomit on the family in front of her, then maybe i'll take some blame about not taking the shot.

but he made it!!! i'm suing that paper.

thank you friends

i saw high fidelity last week. greatest movie quote ever:

"what came first, the music or the misery? people worry about kids playing with guns, or watching violent videos, that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands of songs about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss. did i listen to pop music because i was miserable? or was i miserable because i listened to pop music?"

most depressing album ever: berlin by lou reed. i honestly believe if you listened to this album at the wrong time in your life/day/night, you will find yourself riding your bike downtown at 3 in the morning, slightly intoxicated and wondering where exactly you were going to land.

the WAND

pictures courtesy of tanner.

in the morning of the magicians

so the freepress houstonfest is over. i still prefer the name "the super-happy houston funfest spectacular festival" but this name has yet to catch on. but by either name, it's over.

there are two things i will remember from this year's super-happy funfest. one: my wife and i huddled together under a small black umbrella as her left side was getting soaked and my right side was getting soaked during what was probably a 35-45 minute torrential downpour while sitting on the hill at eleanor tinsley park holding our spot so that we wouldn't lose it for the flaming lips later that evening.

two: the flaming lips. it was one of the most amazing shows i've ever seen. dancing bears, crazy props, walking through a women's legs, megaphones, plastic orbs that floated into the audience. and the sound. the sound of their songs was amazing. absolutely incredible show. i could barely move while they were playing because if i did, i probably would have slipped and fallen into the muddy hill that had become the park, but i was able to shake it enough to inspire the crowd to follow my lead.

backtracking to saturday now....saturday was weak. the sun was behind the clouds, which helped. but i would have rather taken a beating by the sun and gotten better music. ra ra riot was okay. but girl talk was just some dude behind a computer that would take a rock riff and paste it over a hip-hop song. what the hell? i could do that shit in my bedroom if i wanted to while watching reruns of scrubs. i can't help it. i love scrubs. i think i'm a lot like turk. anyway, he was the headliner for saturday! before him was some horrible stuff like medeski, martin and wood and detroit cobras and some rap dude. so that was saturday.

sunday was hot all day. the sun was out. we were preparing for the worst. but when we parked, the wind picked up and could feel it coming. we had no idea how bad it was going to be. we literally sat down and got out the umbrella, and it started pouring on us. and God bless her, my wife sat there with me, crouched together getting soaked in her nice pants and shoes and was happy to be there with me. no one else was there. all of our friends were in their cars staying dry. we held down the spot. she and me. i and her. and i thanked her for that. not many wives would do that. towards the end of the downpour, but still raining, lucero played. they weren't great, but it helped to take our mind off the fact we were getting soaked and having mud flung onto our persons.

the rain finally let up for stars. and i liked that show. i listened to a few tracks beforehand and thought it was a little weak, but i'm going to have to go back and listen again, because live, they were pretty strong. the lead singers (male and female) were engaging. the guy was pretty witty. i like that. wittiness.

then slimthug played(?, he didn't play anything) and we bolted and let everybody else watch our spot for us. but then the lips came on and it was amazing. they played several tracks from their new album embryonic. but they played she don't use jelly and what was cool, they used the screen behind them to have jon stewart, circa 1996, introduce them from his old show. nice.

we got home finally sunday night. with soaked feet. soaked underwater. dirty shoes. dirty blankets. and for a minute, we probably wondered why we did it. but i know why we did it. because i'll never forget that rainy sunday with my wife under the umbrella getting impaled by rain to hold our spot for the flaming lips. that was why.

who is it?

"alien tears will fill for him

pity's long-broken ern,

for his mourners will be outcast men,

and outcasts always mourn."

you wanted a hit

"when the constitution was destroyed, the u.s. ceased to exist. what exists today are power centers that are unaccountable. elections mean nothing, as both parties are dependent on the same powerful interest groups for campaign funds. the most powerful interest groups are the military/security complex, which includes the pentagon, the CIA, and the corporations that service them, the american-israel public affairs committee, the oil industry that is destroying the gulf of mexico, wall street (investment banks and hedge funds), the insurance companies, the pharmaceutical companies and the agri-companies that produce food of questionable content."

wow. that is not from some crackpot blogger, like myself. no, that is paul craig roberts, former assistant secretary of the treasury in the reagan administration.

read the whole thing here.

last night, an umpire blew a call in the ninth inning to steal a perfect game away from a tiger pitcher. a perfect game. again. we have had two this year and if he would have gotten the call right, we would have had three. with more than half the season to go. including the two from this year, we've had 20 perfect games in the history of baseball. if the ump would have gotten the call right, we would have 21. with 14% of them this year!!!! that's incredible!! the year of the pitcher is upon us.

tentative decisions

so what is high frequency trading (HFT)? well, i'm glad you asked.

several concepts should be understood first. they include (this comes from the PBS nightly business report website):

1. many tiny opportunities: HFT traders target opportunities to make minuscule returns and pursue millions or billions of those opportunities in a day.

2. advance tech: HFT is not possible without the rapid identification of a myriad of trading signals, a task that requires advanced computing technology.

3. latency arbitrage: HFT traders take advantage of latency arbitrage, which is defined as buying or selling a stock or other investment slightly ahead of other market participants who do not have the ability to rapidly identify small changes in prices.

4. raw feeds: HFT traders get their price data directly from stock exchanges. these raw feeds get them the data they need milliseconds before more consolidated data feeds reach other market participants, like fund managers.

5. co-location: HFT traders often co-locate their servers in stock exchanges to reduce the distance the electronic data has to travel and, in turn, reduce the time it takes for them to identify data and make trades.

why is this important? well it seems HFT might have played a part in the "flash crash" from earlier this month. there is a potential for something to go really wrong, really quickly. a lot of these buy/sell terms are based on price fluctuations and when the determined price is achieved, it triggers a buy or a sell. because of HFT, the buy/sell could be millions of options, as indicated in point 1 from above. the "flash crash" is a potentially small example of what might happen.

now that we know this, let's watch a funny video from samantha bee further detailing HFT.

also, here is an interview with james murphy of lcd soundsystem. excellent piece.

the national to houston

get out your october calendars. the national are coming to town.

never gonna give you up

i'm not in the camp that believes it's always sunny in philadelphia is the best show on the television. i don't think it's in the same category as seinfeld and it's for sure not in the same category as arrested development, seeing as how arrested development was the greatest television ever. period. seinfeld is firmly entrenched at number two, with the simpsons taking hold of the number three spot and newsradio holding firm at four. number five is TBA. number 135 on the list is mama's family. the mama's family with bubba, not the pre-bubba years. and how was bubba supposed to be a teen? the guy was 35 years old?

but, the episode where mac and charlie try out for the eagles is pretty funny stuff. mostly, the funny comes from one scene. mac and charlie are trying out for the eagles, ala, invincible. so, after the workout, they are psyched because they're going to meet donovan mcnabb, who is supposed to show up and talk to all the guys trying out. but when he gets there, it's obviously not him and charlie and mac notice this. but not only is not donovan mcnabb, it's actually the actor who played elvin on the cosby show. so charlie and mac start asking why was elvin from the cosby show there? and why was he peddling mcdonald's cheeseburgers? just the fact that they thought of replacing donovan mcnabb with elvin from the cosby show is comedic gold.

gold.

number 78 on the list is mr. belvedere, which inspired this hilarious snl skit.

strange powers

go here for the trailer for strange power: the story of stephen merritt and the magnetic fields.

here is the official website.

conversation 16

last night, i drove around the city watching a concentrated lightening storm to the west listening to the national with my windows rolled down. it was one of those nights. thinking. lots and lots of thinking.

i'm particularly moved by the line "i was afraid i'd eat your brains." that might be the best line on the album.

i also went to academy to spend a gift card that i got for my birthday last year. i wanted to buy a bandana, but they were $23.99. when i asked the lady why they were so expensive, she said simply "technology." and i asked, "like a radio?" she did not laugh.

i also watched the brothers bloom last night. great flick. i highly recommend it.

thinktank

from baseline scenario: wall stree CEO's are nuts.

from rolling stone: wall street's war

books of moses

i always create wish-lists for books and then lose them. so i'm making a very public book list that i know i'll be able to find again.

1. the end of the free market- ian bremmer
2. three felonies a day- harvey silverglate
3. the big short- michael lewis
4. 13 bankers- simon johnson
5. the black swan- nassim taleb
6. american lion- jon meacham
7. all music guide to rock- various

that's it for now.

superconnected?

(this post has generated major backstage heat. therefore, it has been removed by management. management would like to apologize for the misunderstanding. management also would like for people to take everything on this blog with two grains of salt and a stick of butter).

glosoli

hallgrimskirkja.

more fun facts.

another green world

this entry had begun as a visceral attack on BP. i was filled with righteous indignation. i had articles and articles of their complete incompetence, their spinning and their tail-covering. i had articles on the environmental impact of this calamity. i had everything. i was ready.

but i won't do that. nothing i post here will change the oil spewing into the gulf of mexico, trashing america's third coast. nothing will change the hard-liners who believe this is no big deal and nature has a way of cleaning itself and how the company is doing everything it can. they probably don't live here. they probably have never seen the coast.

the strange thing is, i smell oil right now. the more i read about it, the more my stomach churns and my nostrils are filled with the smell of petroleum. it's sickening. it's sickening for a company to post monstrous profits start to look to cap its liability when they have devastated the fishing and tourism industries of these areas and, not to mention, the marine and aquatic life. what is the impact of this? how should a company be allowed to do this and survive? where is the liability? where is the reason?

i wonder if the bonuses are still rolling in.

it's been more than a month of oil gushing into the gulf. more than a month.

i can still smell it.

the memory collector

jose lima passed away this weekend. houston has been full of big sports stars while i've lived and worked here. but most of them are boring. honestly, bagwell and biggio, two of the greatest baseball players in history played right here in houston while i grew up. the did amazing things on the field. but they were boring. jose lima was anything but boring. this dude seemed to never take anything seriously except trying to enjoy himself. i've heard a lot of interviews with him and a lot of stories about people bumping into him around town back when he was in houston. every one of them was hilarious. the guy just seriously enjoyed life. he'll be missed.

global chain reaction of debt? that sounds promising.

i never watched lost. not one episode. i assume it's about someone who has misplaced their favorite shirt. am i right?

this guy revisits f.a. hayek's road to serfdom and how it really got us or will get us. it still depends. actually, maybe not.

for all you facebook users, more and more stories about their ceo and business model are freaking me out. take a look at their privacy options.

dance yrself clean

i think that's what i'll try tonight.

failure is an option

i did not pass BEC.

honestly, i'm stunned. i thought i had it. now i have to take it again. with two more sections that i still have not passed.

this process is soul-sucking.

world sick

i believe i sent this link to most everyone i know. maybe i forgot some folks, so i posted it. the volcano in question is located at the southern tip of iceland. when we went on our honeymoon, we stayed in reykjavik, mostly. we went into the interior on one trip and that was to the glacier langjokull. we actually snowmobiled up that glacier. it was the quietest moment of my life. it was the only moment of my life where i felt like i was not on earth.

anyway, iceland is an incredible place. for more interesting facts on iceland, go here. while you're there, please disclose all federal offenses.

the fix is in

elbow continues to make me sweat.

"the fix is in, the odds that i got were delicious,
the fix is in, the jockey was cocky and vicious."

the family gardener

this is one of my favorite moments in the jeff tweedy solo tour DVD:

go here if you are curious.

excuses

with all the great albums coming out this year, one is being unjustly overlooked. the big echo by the morning benders is a freakin' great album. it was produced by one of the dudes from grizzly bear. check out the first track and it's overall beach boys tone. promises, the next track on the album, has a video. go here. you will not be let down by checking out this album. add it the list of great albums from 2010.

don't forget the flowers

this is an amaryllis flower. at my last audit, i was standing outside a building taking pictures of this flower to show my wife and the owner of company, who is like 80, i should say owner and founder of the company comes over and starts talking to me about the flower and he tells me to take three! he gives me his pocketknife and says take it and leave it with the secretary when i'm done and take three of them. that was awesome. what is funny is that i actually went to a banquet honoring this man a few months before hand. he is a kind dude.

anyway, enjoy the flower.

remember the alamo

last night i had a dream that for some reason we had to reenact the battle of the alamo. now most reenactments are staged, where no one really gets hurt or killed. this one, however, was going to be a real, brutal reenactment of the battle. i have no clue how i was picked. i just remember preparing the day before the battle was to take place and looking around going, "tomorrow, i'm going to die at the alamo." and everybody seemed to be okay with it. there were just a few of us, obviously, like the real battle. one was andy bernard from the office. he was there.

so the day of the battle, i called my mom and told her goodbye. she was upset about what was going to happen to me, but didn't question why the hell the battle was taking place in the first place. that's what makes me think it had to be done for some serious reason between the u.s. and mexico, like we had to do it again for mexico to feel better about itself or something. i don't know. but she was sad.

so they bused us over there to the alamo. now, mind you, this is modern day san antonio. so there are buildings all around the alamo. big ones. and hotels and shops and all sorts of crap. they bus us right up to the alamo and let us out and start putting us into place. my place was on top of the alamo, the actual cathedral part. i get up there and look out at about 5,000 mexican troops, who i believe were normal people like me. i started chanting U.S.A! U.S.A!, which got the crowd going, but i felt stupid afterward because i should have been chanting something about texas. that made more sense.

now if you have read this far, you will disappointed because i woke up. just like that. no battle. no start to the battle. nothing. i woke up before a single shot was fired. i had already picked out who i was going to shoot first and i woke up. i was so seriously worried about how i was going to die at the alamo that i think my brain let me off the hook and didn't make me worry anymore. it was terrifying.

that was my battle at the alamo.

here is pitchfork's review of the national's new album.

here is the avclub.

counting only blue cars

that's right. that is a dishwalla song reference. so, tell me all your thoughts on God.

dr. dog was a great show. the concert going experience is a strange one. you're surrounded by a large group of people who are their for a common thing: to see the show. they like the band, presumably. but everyone has their own experience. i tend to get wrapped up in my head. i start to associate all songs, lyrics, sounds with my life and it takes on supreme resonance. sometimes the experience is more than i want and i'm affected more than i want. but most of the time, it's the right balance. that and i need to sit down more than the average fan. standing around in a closed group of people, not my thing.

you guys been paying attention to greece? it's still going on.

this is a great post regarding hyperinflation and the causes in post WWI germany and recently zimbabwe and how different those scenarios are from our current status.

here is 10 ways the economy is built on fraud.

the amazing month of may begins with releases of the new pornographers and broken social scene. next week is the national and soon after that is lcd soundsystem.

terrible love

the live version of "terrible love" is outstanding. not sure what happened to the balls of the recorded version.

"it's a terrible love and i'm walking with spiders." i have no idea what the literalness of that statement means, but it resounds quite deep everytime i hear it.

i only wear blue

dr. dog is tonight. boo yes.

i have another exam in four weeks. the madness continues. but without the madness, my life would be a lot less interesting.

i'm so tired

i've studied and studied and studied. i'm ready for this test. don't know if i'll pass, but i've acquired a bit of knowledge that if i don't pass, i'll be ready to take it again soon. i'm taking regulation at the end of may, so that will be three of the four taken, with only financial still hanging out there. i've left the hardest two for the last. don't know how smart that is.

but if i can pass business tomorrow and have two under my belt this early in the game, that would be a major coup for me. i'd have the rest of the year to pass the final two. actually, i'd have until august 2011, when my audit credit expires, but i want to pass them all this year. i feel like 2010 is going to be a good year for me. i've made some major changes this year and it feels like forever since i've been this productive. define productive i suppose. but i'm looking forward to tomorrow. i enjoy the mental rigor of taking these tests. i don't enjoy missing out on beautiful days like today though. i could have ridden my bike all day and picked flowers. seriously. but, i'll do that tomorrow after the test.

if you aren't enjoying seeing goldman sachs suffer, than you probably don't really understand the situation. so i'll boil it down for everyone: let's say i sold you a car. i knew the car was a piece of shit. but i didn't tell you. i told you it was in great shape. so after you bought it, i made a huge side bet that the car was going to break down. and it did. you suffered. i made out huge. that's what goldman sachs did. read the emails. they knew exactly what they were doing. how the public hasn't torn down this company only shows that we either don't understand or don't care. and neither one is acceptable.

this isn't the first time that the government has had to battle a large financial institution. andrew jackson took on the 2nd bank of the united states and won. here's that story.

being there by wilco is year by year becoming my favorite album of all time.

high violet

for those you the national enthusiasts, please refer to the NYT website by april 27th to stream the new album.

you're welcome.

in other news, hot dogs still taste like wasted ass.

more than words

today is my two wedding anniversary. we went to san antonio this past weekend and celebrated. we went to the alamo and the riverwalk.

but the most awesome thing was the botanical gardens in san antonio. it was freakin' amazing. i could have spent all day there. easily.

anyway, that's two years in the books. she is now my longest relationship ever, surpassing my high school girlfriend who was in first place. not anymore. move over.

here's to two more. and two more. and two more. and two more. than three. than two more.

sec sues goldman sachs!!!

ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!ha!

taxman

the taxman has cometh and the taxman has goneth. my days of working 10 hour days and saturdays are over. that's right baby. over. my life is back.

the astros won today by the way. they started 0-8. that's amazing. it's going to be a long summer.

i saw the white rabbits this week. they were orgasmic. that's actually a bit extreme, but they were really, really good. those guys are going to be huge. and they seemed so young. that's strange at concerts. to listen and really get into some band that's younger than you.

listening to the new MGMT right now. not bad.

wet cement

two things:


saw "the reader" on friday. awesome, awesome film. highly recommend it.


saw a band called the sideshow tramps. sounds like they'd be totally lame, but this band was fun and totally wacky in their presentation. and this was at a crawfish festival. i don't eat crawfish so i had a corndog. it's been ages since i've had a corndog. it was perfection.


other than that, studying a lot.


oh last night, i almost turned into a phil collins robot at HEB. what is a phil collins robot? it's a robot that goes around singing phil collins in a robotic monotone voice obviously. this happened in the frozen foods area by the milk. i began singing and the danger was mounting, but it turned out okay. i turned back into myself.

i learned the hard way

if any of you chaps is having a shindig and wants to throw down some soul crunching soul moving music, check out sharon jones and the dap kings. love their style man.

astros lose the opener. somehow, i knew.

i wonder how long i could get by on four hours sleep. probably two/three days. then i would collapse. it's something i would like to try at some point. i bet i could get a lot done.

the last days of disco

it's good friday. last day of eating fish on friday. i'm sure i'll eat fish again on fridays, but with a side of chicken and beef for dessert.

there's a top fed official who wants to break up the banks. this guy is something. i totally dig his style. he's the lone voice of reason amongst the federal reserve officials.

here's his story.

paul krugman disagrees.

here is the history of the toothbrush and toothpaste. of course it was the chinese who invented it. love those chinese.

i passed the audit section of the cpa exam. this weekend i'll be studying endlessly for the business section, which i take at the end of april. i really hope i pass that one too. to have 50% of the test done, with still basically 14 months to accomplish the other two section is a big deal. that would put me in a really good spot. but either way, i feel really good about passing. it gives me a lot of confidence and i'm going to need it because each section gets harder and harder. i wish i could pass each one the first time. man, that would be great.

"but here i go again, wishin' never solved a problem. if you wanna get it big time, you better get it, get it big time."

not a great quote, but i really dig the song by yeasayer.

i'll come running

i went running yesterday and my entire body feels like goo. gelatinalized goo.

i got my business cds in the mail. time to hang up the tunes and hang down(?) the monotanized female business voice that feeds me endless amounts of information. yes!

actually this weekend i have a ton of studying to do. i think i'll do it. and i think i'll eat some eggs too.

another day

"it's just another day."

paul said it best. it's just another day. another day.

i passed the audit section of the cpa exam.

white rabbits and dr. dog coming to houston in april. am i excited? yes. am i going? yes. will i continue to ask and answer questions from myself? probably. no, definitely.

hey joe

well said mr. vice president. well said.

on down the line

health care has passed people. let us rejoice. now let's get out of iraq, get out of afghanistan, close down wall street and give us all candy.

alex chilton. the dude invented power pop. if power pop sounds lame, that's because no one does it like alex chilton. he took rock and added life and soul to it and with chris bell made it beautiful and touch and shady. he deserves a place on the rock history mount rockmore with bob dylan, john lennon and mickey dolenz. i love mickey dolenz.

uh-oh, love comes to town

"if you were really smart, you'd know what to do."

it's about to come a gully-washer here in houston.

i ate two chicken biscuits for breakfast and lunch. brunch. lunkfest. either one is a wonderful new word. born of laziness.

this weekend has its promises.

crystalized

this is the first week i have felt good in about a month. that sickness took me down hard for like the whole month of february and some of march. i feel strong again. i've been getting up early and going to the gym. i'm dying at like 3 in the afternoon, but it's worth it because i have tons of energy in the morning.

i saw a concert last weekend in austin: legs against arms. they kicked raw ass. man that was fun. full of energy. the next day we stumbled across a kite festival in zilker park. we walked the greenbelt until we came to the park and then just walked around the kites. i've never seen so many kites. it was incredible. we had a blast. i was still feeling a little crappy, but that was the last day. it was the sunshine burned it out of me. i love the warmth.

did anybody else see jon stewart doing his glenn beck impersonation for the entire 1st half of the show last night? it was brilliant. totally f-in' brilliant. check it here.

has anybody heard of vertical farms? these pictures are amazing. check them out.

centerfield

the 2010 baseball season is upon us and it's time for my predictions. this is going to be easy because i don't see anything changing. the cardinals will win the NL Central, the phillies will win the NL East and the rockies will win the NL West. the wild card from the NL will be the dodgers. same as last year but with the rockies and dodgers flip-flopping.

in the AL, the yankees will win the AL East, the twins will win the AL Central and the rangers will win the AL west. the tampa bay rays will win the AL wild card. that is a little different than last year. i think the rangers will be the surprise team this year, but mostly everything will be the same as last year. not a lot has changed to make anything different. the tigers will be a little worse without curtis granderson, the angels will be a little worse witout john lackey, plus they're getting a little old. the mariners will be a little better with cliff lee. the reds should be a little better with some seasoning. the NL Central promises to be comedicly bad. the most excitement will probably come from the possibility of another phillies-yankees world series. the same two teams have never, ever met in the world series in back-to-back years in my lifetime. it's never happened. so that will the biggest storyline.

i can't wait. as for the home team, they're going to be a little better i think this year. the rotation is younger and should be stronger. the bullpen is a little tighter. our offense is still pretty pathetic, but our defense has improved enough that i think we'll win 80 games. that's my prediction: 80-82. another losing year, but we're moving in the right direction.

while you wait for the others

so....who's watching the watchers?

we have major accounting firms not doing their job (i'm looking right at you ernst and young!)

we have credit agencies giving bogus credit scores to garbage assets (i'm looking right at you moodys!)

these are the agencies we depend on for their adherence to rules and compliance. we cannot trust them. therefore, we cannot trust anyone. it's all made of fiction and gorilla dust. all of it. something doesn't look right, move it off the balance sheet. the audit firm won't mind, we pay them millions. they'll do what we say.

i hesitate to link this article, but i have to. some of you (actually the only guy who reads this agrees with me) don't want to believe what's really going on. that everything you know and rely on is made of crumbs and it won't take more than a collective sneeze to blow it away. really. the game is rigged. do your best as a person. have as much fun as you can. nothing is going with you in the next life. don't be greedy. let it go. but realize what you're up against and who you're playing with.

republicans=democrats=republicans=democrats and on and on and on and on.... no one has your best interest in mind except you.

someday i will treat you good

mark linkous killed himself the other day. he was basically sparklehorse. apparently he walked down a street, pulled out a shotgun and shot himself in the heart. must have been in a lot of pain.

i remember being young. i remember listening to "someday i will treat you good." that made me buy vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot. i bought it. i listened to it. to this day, i still am blown away by the feeling the album generates. it's beautiful. it's haunting. it's sad. it's hopeful. it's disjointed. i love it.

i'm sorry he was in such great pain. i hope he's feeling better now.

something

man, i had something hilarious to post about something. now i can't remember. it was going to be groundbreaking.

i'm almost 80% after my battle with whatever took me down this week. this was the worst i've felt since i had the flu, which i was certain i had the flu but didn't. still tons of coughing and lots of just tiredness, but trust me, it's way better than where i was monday/tuesday. i think i shaved my head too soon. i usually do it in march or april. this year i did it january, when it was still freakin' cold. that's my theory. i needed hair.

giving up the gun

every picture i see of jim bunning, the man looks insane. especially walking into his "senator's only elevator." that was so crazy, it was brilliant.

niall ferguson, who is obsessed with the current/potential long decline of america, likens it to thomas cole's paintings known as "the course of the empire."

neil degrasse tyson is everywhere. i saw him on the daily show last night. i saw him rachel maddow last night. he's the guy who took down pluto from planet to dwarf. pbs is actually airing a special tonight about that same thing. i suggest it.

the acts of man

the new midlake album is so bad. it pains me to say it, but it totally sucks. it sits on one feel the entire time and it never leaves it. every song sounds the same and each new one brings about new levels of crap. don't waste your time. move along people. nothing to see here.

going the distance

the test is over. this part, for now. i'm taking the weekend off from studying. i'm going to lay it all out there at the chili cookoff with my best friend and my wife. i honestly cannot wait. i'm literally sitting still, not waiting.

there was a sign on the desk where you check in before the test. it read: "you only fail when you stop trying." totally lame, but man, oh man, is it true. i could fail this thing and be upset and get bent out of shape, but that doesn't get me anywhere. i have to keep studying. keep trying. and finally, it will happen. i know it will.

"gonna fly now, gonna fly now...." everything comes back to rocky.

wednesday morning

i take the audit section. wish me luck!!

i also had my ticket dismissed today. so it's the start of a good week. i plan on keeping it going.

benjamin in china

all of the people who read this blog know my cat. his name is benjamin and before he started to go crazy, he was the coolest cat ever. he's still cool, but the annoying level is growing. anyway, all of you know him and love him and recognize him from this picture. the only thing is, that's not him. i found this picture on a website i frequent and freaked out because this cat looks exactly like benjamin. i mean exactly. it has to be him. i guess it doesn't have to be him.

so either there is another cat who looks exactly like my cat or benjamin got out of the house one night, caught a flight to china and found someone to take this picture of him and got back in bed with me and my wife before we woke up in the morning. the latter does seem more likely when you spell it out. i just love the fact he was enjoying his trip enough to have someone take a picture of him while he was there. great thinking bear.

the courage of others

i pray i have the courage to face the evil that will come my way.

st. valentine's day

what a weekend people. friday night, saw avatar. it was the most visually stunning event i have ever participated in. the colors, the scenes, the action is all in your face and vivid and beautiful. i highly recommend it.

saturday we had dinner at reef and saw wonderful at the alley. dinner was great. the play was stupid and terrible and possibly the worst play ever. possibly and likely.

sunday i studied and then the wife and i put together this epic dinner that took like three and a half hours. the dinner was pretty good, but it was most fun making it together.

now i'm studying all week and night and all week again. all weekend. all the time. i'm passing that bastard this time. i'm doing it!!!

the horizon is a beltway

"the horizon is a beltway that we may never cross
the tops of buildings tremble like children lorn and lost
the stain runs deep it's deeper than the blood upon the cross
the horizon is a beltway that we may never cross."

- the low anthem

rain on

"are you quite certain love?"

over fire island

things are about to get interesting. if greece falls, there could some real fireworks out there. and i'm wondering how long before we start to smell the smoke?

the bailout of greece and the end of the euro

a greek crisis is coming to america

EU leaders promise to keep greece in check

greece: the PIGS fight back

after reading these articles, you start to get the same feeling: people are nervous. we all know what the ending of the story is for every one of us. that only leaves one question: when will the end come? we live our lives certain ways thinking the end is far or near. countries do the same thing. is the day of debt reckoning here? probably not yet. but the future/present never seemed so confusing.

girls, pts.1 & 2

harry rag

i have been sick for five days now. my ears are clogged and everything sounds like i'm underwater.

no matter.

this still does not change the fact that the kinks are severly underrated and underappreciated. kinks albums, i'm coming for you. all of you. actually all of you before lola, i think after that you kind of suck.

smoke detector

rilo kiley is so lame, but so hot and tight at the same time. i listen to it for two or three songs and love it. and then i hate it. and then i want to make love to it. and then i want get some space from it.

i love you jenny lewis.

no i don't.

love like a sunset, pt. 2

"come in number 51, your time is up."

the fed as a giant counterfeiter. great article that clearly spells out the inflation based fiat system of money we have.

the website that article comes from is http://www.mises.org/. i highly recommend checking into this website daily for great reads and articles on economic and political topics.

"tu ne cede malis."

apparently chris dodd is going go out on top, by killing the financial reform bill so he can go work with the very same financial institutions it tries to wrangle in.

paul krugman looks north to the boring canadiens as a great example of how to base our financial policies.

"i don't believe in beatles. i just believe in me. yoko and me. that's reality."

books of moses

yo la tengo was great. i can't shake the feeling though that i don't belong at concerts anymore. i'll still go, oh yeah, i'll still go and some i do feel like i belong. like when i went to blind pilot and the low anthem. but at yo la tengo we were standing around like 16 year old kids who all had the same haircut, all moved the same way and all attached amazing importance to every movement of sound. i know this because i used to be those kids. but now i'm older and i like going, but i don't like the standing, i don't like the crampness, i don't like the screaming. i need a personal performance in my garage. when i get a garage.

there was one girl there who overheard me talking to pete about how the first band sucked. and she started shaking her head, telling me i was wrong. i made a smart-ass comment in her direction and then she proceeded to ask me to name my top ten bands of all time because that's how she determines character in her book. that's how she said it. so i named hanson, foreigner, deep blue something. i couldn't name all ten because she was instantly dying on the inside because she actually believed these were my top ten bands of all time. but it was how she said it, "that's how i judge character in my book." and i thought, do i do that? i don't think i do. character is not something i attach to what kind of music you listen to. some of the best people in my life, the most honest people i've ever met listen to absolute shit. and some of the most untrustworthy, lying, deceptive people i've ever met listened to great music. so a judge on someone's character? no. a judge on their ability to artistically judge something worthwhile and meaningful? yes. so maybe that's what she was getting at, but used a different word that i didn't appreciate. who knows. she was wasted. and married. and hitting on me.

i will be going to another concert very soon. sunday i'm seeing girls at walters. that sounds promising.

autumn sweater

going to see yo la tengo tonight.

boo-yes.

boo-yesh.

boo. yes.

yesh.

too much caffeine.

butter the soul

"those funky days are back again."

obama is set to take on wall street. we'll see. he's listening to paul volcker, which is a good sign. i know that loss in massachusetts had to awaken him to the fact that we are pissed about wall street banking while the rest of us are floundering when the caused they shit in the first place. hopefully, he'll nail them.

i'm set up to take the audit part of the cpa test again in february. i'm going to nail it. i feel it this time. last time was like rocky I, when he battled apollo to a draw/loss, with apollo retaining the title. he felt like he won even though he lost. in rocky II, he fought hard and trained hard and he took apollo to the last round and knocked him out. that's what i'm going to do.

"this is the last round."

everything can be related to rocky. everything.

i think ur a contra

another sign that the world is ending: vampire weekend's newly released "contra" is the number one selling album in the country.

what? yes. it's true. i have sources.

it's actually a really good album. couple that with the new spoon album and it's been a pleasant start to 2010 as far as music goes.

what is horchata though? this is what it is.

is love forever?

it's interesting i found this article yesterday. i've since found three other articles saying that january 19th, january 24th and january 26th are the most depressing days of the year. funny how they all occur in january. i found it particularly interesting because yesterday was the 15 year anniversary of my sister's death. i turned 30 last year, so i have now lived half my life without my sister. i don't really remember what it's like to have a sibling, someone who you grew up and lived with. the last thing i ever said to my sister was not verbal, but i laughed at something she said. i had been stuck on some joke for some time and she took the joke and used it for herself and it made me laugh. and that was it. she was gone. the next day. the only reason time heals all wounds is because there are tiny battles everyday that help you forget that you're missing something so bad. there are tiny hurdles and games to be played every day. the distance is what heals. and it doesn't heal completely. ever. and in some ways, it shouldn't. there should always be a scar there. otherwise, you might completely forget. and i've already forgotten enough.

spoon's new album is out today.

elizabeth warren is out fighting today. love her.

a bank levy will not stop the doomsday cycle.

written in reverse

"i'm writing this to you in reverse."

honey in the sun

so the gala was pretty sweet. my wife went nuts at the silent auction and bid for a craig biggio signed baseball, that we won, and dance lessons, that we won also. so the good comes with the bad. but as far as galas go, i enjoyed it. my wife got dressed up like she was the wife of a diplomat and looked amazing. i broke out the old suit and dusted it off and after i made some alterations to the pants, (apparently, i've put on an inch since i got married) i was ready to go. there were some big wigs there, but not as many as i expected. the live auction was lackluster because apparently wall street greed leaves all of us with no money, even the big wigs. but all in all, i would totally go again.

now it's back to the real world and study, study, study.

coming up

i'm going to a gala tonight.

a freaking gala. that is hilarious.

i've been using the word gala.

the plan

step 1 is complete. i am joining the ranks of the "move your money" people. i've been thinking about doing this for some time. but this movement has got me re-invigorated. step 2, this weekend. and as the new kids said, three 3 it's just you for me.

i love when a plan comes together. i really do.

cage the songbird

events and happenings, exciting and not:

1. getting my car's oil and inspection done tomorrow
2. tonight i will watch the new star trek movie
3. i am taking my money out of a tarp bank and moving it to a smaller bank next week
4. i am attending an economics conference next weekend
5. tanner just burned me five awesome albums including the woods, the wooden sky and other voices
6. girls, yo la tengo, akron family and noah and the whale is coming up
7. i have a hot cup of coffee sitting right next to me
8. i found a new workout that is going to transform my body (in a good way!)
9. i just ate a banana
10. it's likely that i will have lunch with my wife at red lobster today, home of the cheesy biscuits

what a life.

whole lotta losin'

this month promises to be exciting already.

i have dates for the yo la tengo concert, the girls concert and the akron/family concert. i do not have a date for noah and the whale, but i'm not worried.

i'm also signed up for this: a symposium on the failure of keynesian economics. ron paul will be there speaking. totally, totally excited about that.

this month and february are the worst of the year for me, but with stuff like this, hopefully i can keep a positive attitude.

i wanna be your man

it's 2010. it has been for a while. things are changing already, even before the new year. wow. since i was 15 in my first job at kroger, we never stopped hiring. we never started firing unless you fell asleep, were drunk or made out with the cleaning lady. but that's changing. keep your heads on straight. and pull up your socks. i have to pull up my socks all the time. seriously. it's like the elastic only keeps for a year maybe. but these socks are old probably. i bet i haven't bought new socks since i was 16 or 17 and i didn't buy them. my mom probably did.

i like to do this thing where i look at what i'm wearing and try to figure out how much it cost me. the other day i was wearing shoes that pete gave me. total so far: $0.00. my pants were from goodwill. total: roughly $4.00. the shirt was given to me by my wife, so that cost me nothing. and my jacket was from goodwill too. so with the pants and the jacket, my total outfit cost me $6.00. nice! but that doesn't count socks and underwear, cause to be honest with you, i'm not sure where any of that came from. i think i was given socks and underwear when i was born and i still have it.

so to the serious stuff:

great article in the atlantic about the demise of america. what does that mean? is it born into our culture? is for real this time?

matt taibbi is back and railing on fannie mae and freddie mac.

seriously, where do my socks and underwear come from? i should clarify that by saying "underwear" i mean whity tighties. boxers, those i bought. i remember buying those. those did not come with my birth. the rest, i think did.

bluebird

"i'm a bluebird, i'm a bluebird, i'm a bluebird, yeah, yeah, yeah."

accidentally like a martyr

"enjoy every sandwich." that's what warren zevon said.

murray rothbard breaks down the case against the fed.

how overhauling derivatives died in the WSJ.

niall ferguson breaks down the ascent, not of money, but of the new east dominance.

percussion gun

i think i know what i'm doing for new years and it doesn't involve drinking or standing around with a bunch of people i don't like. that is great news to me. way to kick off 2010. start with something different. start it up right again. this decade needs to be a return to a way of life i surrendered about a decade ago. clean. pure. honest. focused. easy. slow. content.

i went walking with my wife on sunday afternoon. we walked down to the arboretum and she took along her tree book and stood around for about three hours trying to identify trees. it was probably some of the most fun i had all month. it was free. it was enlightening. i learned stuff. i got to see my wife in her element, out amongst the trees and nature. it was wonderful. that's what i'm talking about. my 20's were a great time, but i'm glad they're done. lots of ups and downs. lots of influence and questioning. lots of unnecessary stress. lots of people who came in and now they're gone. there are quite a few people still in though and those are the people i should be concentrating on. some of them have kids. i need to spend more time with these people and their families.

here is what i expect to happen in the next decade (of course if i had done this at 2000, every word of it would have been wrong, so bear with me on this):

1. i will pass the cpa test in 2010-2011
2. my wife and i will make a drastic change location wise
3. my wife and i will buy a house
4. we will vacation in a foreign land
5. i will finally buy a new car
6. my professional career will take off
7. my wife will start a new business
8. i will have the same friends i have now (i can count five)
9. we might have a kid (possible)
10. we will have two dogs

that's it. you really don't know, do you? so much could happen that we don't expect. i just know i want the simple life with my wife. i want flowers and gardens and coffee and seasons and hikes and bikes and a fireplace and two dogs. i can't wait.

i got you (at the end of the century)

christmas is over. my wife's birthday is over. the vacation is over. i'm back at work. my wife's birthday was awesome. we went to mark's american cuisine for dinner. totally awesome restaurant. we had all sorts of delectables. and some good vino. then we went to a comedy club where i ran into kena, an old friend from fox sports who promotes comedians. she was managing two of the dudes that performed that night. one of the dudes was making fun of how white people dance (real original material right?) so since we were sitting right up front, and i mean right up front, he singled us out. well the daughter of the couple we went with actually got up on stage after he asked her to and she danced her ass off, so much so that the dude lost his routine and had no idea what to say. he basically dropped the mike and left the stage.

so later, as the event was winding down, kena runs up out of nowhere and yells that it's my wife's birthday. so the whole club starts signing happy birthday to wife stevie wonder style, which was sweet. i wasn't able to sing it, because i didn't know stevie wonder style. but it was fun. good, good times.

christmas was good time. i'll gloss over that.

so back to business right? back to studying and reading and getting smarter. so here's some stuff to read:

paul krugman shows how the last decade was basically a wash.

apparently john mccain wants to reinstate glass-steagall. i applaud him for his efforts and i hope it passes.

in his new book, the evolution of God, robert wright looks at changes in religion during times of war, political unrest and the shrinking of the world.

anybody interested in the school of austrian economics? go here and read the theory of money and credit by ludwig von mises. good stuff.

war is over

"so this is Xmas
and what have you done
another year over
and a new one just begun

and so this is Xmas
i hope you have found
the near and the dear one
the old and the young

a very Merry Xmas
and a happy New Year
let's hope it's a good one
without any fear

war is over, if you want it
war is over now."

happy christmas everyone.

2009 in tunes

i guess it's time for my annual top ten list of albums. 2009 wasn't a great year for music. it was a good year. i heard lots of good albums, not many great ones. yesterday, tanner burned me frankel, the low anthem and a.a. bondy, so i might change this list once i listen to these albums and get familiar with them. but for now, here it is:

1. the avett brothers- i and love and you
2. grizzly bear- veckatimest
3. dark was the night- various artists
4. animal collective- merriweather post pavillion
5. fruit bats- the ruminant band
6. flaming lips- embryonic
7. girls- album
8. the low anthem- oh my god, charlie darwin
9. the white rabbits- it's frightening
10. wilco- wilco the album

there it is. honorable mention:

yo la tengo- popular songs
elvis perkins- in dearland
u2- no line on the horizon
phoenix- wolfgang amadeus phoenix

and that's really it. like i said, not a great year, but a good one.

anybody have anything else to add?

someone to share my life with

wednesday is my wife's birthday. i instituted what i called "the seven days of birthday" last wednesday where my wife got a gift every day leading up to her birthday. the last three are going to be awesome. she's going to love them! i am the best husband ever. seriously. look it up.

i had blood drawn today for the first time since i was 14. i am the biggest wiener when it comes to blood. but i got through it. it still hurts a little. not much.

i'm so excited about this week. this is going to be a fun week. (check back next week for the entry when i say that this week sucked.)

we've been had

"we've been had. you say it's over. sometimes i'm just happy i'm older. we've been had. i know it's over. somehow it got easy to laugh outloud."

-the walkmen

dig a pony

i saw "fantastic mr. fox" last night. wow. that movie. stop-animation by wes anderson. voices with george clooney and glenn close. the funniest line in a movie in 2009 was by ash, the son voiced by jason schwartzman:

"you're disloyal." that was delivered better than any line in the history of lines. so funny.

i also ate twos bags of popcorn and two giant sodas. i think my total caloric intake for the night was between 15,000 and 20,000 calories last night. i think tonight i'll dream about working out.

the movie actually had three beach boys songs. the movies starts with "heroes and villains." amazing montage sequence. i love a good montage. set to a tune by the b-boys, even better. next was "i get around." great tune. and finally, "old man river," which the beach boys didn't write, but they have an outtake where they are singing with it with minimal instruments and the harmonies are killer. totally killer.

in other news, my cat is the cutest animal on earth.

swimming in the flood

it's cold outside. jeeze. colder than when it snowed.

so for all you sports fans who voted for the tagline of change and hope (myself included in that sports fans reference), you have probably woken up to the harsh reality that change is not coming and hope is dead on the vine.

one of my favorite political writers right now is matt taibbi. he writes mostly with rolling stone. i posted a link to his article a while back about goldman sachs when eviscerated the financial institution.

well he's back. and this time he aim is directly on the obama administration. the obama big sellout. i highly recommend you read it and try your best to understand the back room dealings that are going on here. we'll never know for certain how many of these deals happen, but when one is exposed, familiarize yourself with it. get to know it. and remember it. they think we don't have a memory.

for the next election, we need to make our voice heard. we will not stand for the republican or democrat parties any longer. they're day in the sun is done. vote 3rd party all the way. even if it's the most ridiculous 3rd party there is. how can it be more futile than what we have?

this is a call

well it's not snowing anymore. i'm sure most of you guessed that.

i have been super busy this week. i'll have to catch everybody up later in the week.

i ate some righteous hummus today. very swell.

snow in houston

i cannot believe it. there is snow everywhere. not enough to make you stay in all day, but snow nonetheless. it's beautiful. i made one snowball and my hand almost froze off.

heroes and villains

lyrics

the song

my hero

i don't care what anyone says (and i'm not exactly who this vague force of evil i'm referring to is, but i'm sure it's out there (how's that for paranoia?)) but the foo fighters song "my hero" is one kick-ass, full-on, bitchin' rock and roll tune.

i saw the foo fighters do a vh1 storytellers. it's probably the only music-type show vh1 has done in six or seven years, but it was good. i have mad respect for dave grohl. i don't necessarily love the foo fighters, but for that guy to come from being the drummer of the most adored band of the early '90s and putting out that first album of his took major, major balls. and it was pretty good. it wasn't great, but it was pretty good. i liked it enough to buy it, the last foo fighters album i bought, but still. the guy has personality and is always saying something interesting or funny when i see or read about him. gotta love that.

breathe

"every day, i die again and again, i'm reborn."

"there's nothing you have that i need. i can breathe."

- both from bono.

age brings wisdom. supposedly. but for the most, i think it does. christmas is a great time of year. but man, i see so many people killing themselves, not enjoying the spirit. the lights. the music. the shiny stuff. it's beautiful. there's nothing at best buy or some jewelry store that you need. like jeff tweedy said, "the best life never leaves your lungs." don't get too high. don't get too low. that's how to live life. i wish i knew that ten years ago.

there's a lot going on in the world, but i want everyone who reads this to think and pray for jessie maker. she had her foot amputated. i pray for healing and strength for her. she is most beloved and is an amazing woman. i have no doubt she will overcome this and be up again taking care of those around her.

moods for moderns

food stamps now help one in eight americans and help to feed one in four children. read that again. one in eight americans and one in four children. that is amazing. i sit here and read that and think, there's no way that's right. but it is. one in four children. 25% of the children in this country are fed with the assistance of food stamps. we're hearing a lot of talk about a "recovery," but each time i hear that i think about what i see and hear everyday. i don't think we're grasping how deep this problem is going because a) we're not paying enough attention and b) we still think things can continue the way they always have since i've been alive (30 years): debt will spur growth. that is not sustainable. it is not logical.

we're lucky. most of you/us reading this are in a state that, while not immune to this great recession, has weathered it better than most. there are entire states out there that are hurting. and while the story about tiger woods wife beating up his back window with a golf club might be fun and entertaining, the truth is:

1. we're sending more troops to afghanistan, where we've now been for almost nine years; longer than our involvement in WWII
2. we have 17% total unemployment, which includes people who have given up looking for work and part-time employees who would rather be working full-time
3. we have an imploding national debt that will start to eat into our everyday lives as we grow older
4. we have a political system that is engrained in the status quo
5. for those with jobs, we have stagnant wages with price increases in food, power, medical and retirement fees

we need to pay attention. we need to hold those in charge accountable. start writing your senators. start writing your reps. start writing the president. we've got huge problems and we're patching holes while the boat is sinking.

we're marching towards zombie capitalism.

and the glitter is gone

michael moore's open letter to president obama.

it actually inspired me to write one to him as well. click the link on the bottom of the letter to write to him or someone who reads for him or to him. who knows. it just felt good writing and telling someone what a mistake it is to send more troops to afghanistan.

nice

a shot in the arm

man. i needed this past break. it felt so good not to go anywhere or spend all night studying. wednesday, my buddy and i went and rampaged this ping-pong table. that was incredible. ping-pongs wars ensued. thursday was nothing but food covered in gravy, which is the way it was intended to be. and friday we saw my friend's little boys and played with them. and saturday and sunday, we took it easy. so nice.

does anyone really believe that if you listen to a repetitive phrase, or several repetitive phrases while you sleep, that you can actually memorize them in your sleep? i wonder. it's actually called "hypnopaedia" which translates to sleep teaching.

greatest avclub inventory ever. 17 peculiar beach boys songs! i have them all. my favorite on the list is probably johnny carson. that is a brilliant album.

great article by niall ferguson regarding the possible debt implosion and how the great superpowers have fallen because of it.

be thankful you have a job right now. seriously.

end the fed

i can't believe i missed this:

ron paul in houston, part 1.

ron paul in houston, part 2.

middle of the road

so i took time out of my life last night to watch the texans play on monday night football. my wife and i got some hamburgers, some chips and some beers. she watched about half of the game. i watched about 3/4. we made a bet on the game too. she doesn't like to do money bets, because it all comes from the same pot. so we made a dinner bet. whoever lost would have to cook dinner for the other person. the dinner doesn't have to be 4 star michelin, but it has to have thought, planning and preparedness.

i bet on the texans to win. so what should i cook? i'm thinking some sort of pork dish maybe. like a pecan crusted pork loin. or maybe something more exotic, like buffalo or maybe something from the sea, like scallops or chilean sea bass. i have to do it before 30 days have passed, so i have time to think and prepare and plan.

i should also think about not betting on the texans next game or ever again.

i'll be waking up early tomorrow to take BEC, another portion of the CPA test. if i fail this one, i think i might have to take drastic measures in my studying habits. like tape myself reading the material and listening to it while i'm sleeping. or take stuff to the inside of my eyelids. i don't know.

whatupwiththat

i watched a bit of snl on saturday night. mostly, i don't think the skits are very funny, but every once in a while, you'll get a good show. this one was hit and miss, but this skit in particular is still making me laugh and i'm not sure exactly why. it's not that original or witty, but it's catchy and man i want those dance moves.

what up with that?


ooooooooooooooeeeeeeeeee!

it's got to be the glasses

the motown sound. we know it. we grew up with it. and the consensus is marvin gaye. he was the maestro. and you won't get an argument from me. the man was soul personified. he wrote and produced his shit. he ached every note and believed every pause and silent fixture.

but that's not the whole story. david ruffin. if you listen to david ruffin's vocals with the temptations, you'll hear a man with tread on his voice. a man who didn't force nothing. double negative. i love those.

i wish it would rain. i'm losing you. my girl. the man couldn't control his urges, but what man can? his demons destroyed him. but sadly, that's what made his performance so great. he was desparate. every note was the last.

when i started writing this i was listening to i'm losing you. but now, the cd player has shifted and admiral halsey, uncle albert is playing. what a great song. the perfect paul song. it means nothing, but man is it gorgeous. the melody is so sweet. the melody is perfect and so are the harmonies. i wish brian wilson had decided to get out of bed and do his little tunes. i'm sure he would have made songs so seemingly insignificant, but yet, so deep in their brief existence.

i take BEC on wednesday. i wish i was smarter.

this guy is probably a total douche, but i'm digging this first song off his solo album.

singalong/junk

i didn't pass the audit section of the cpa test. am i bummed? yes. but, i know i can do it. i have confidence and faith in myself. the worst part is that it was probably one of the easiest sections. it's only going to get harder. that is daunting. but if you ask out 100 women, two will say yes and one will be easy. that's the approach i have to take. i'll keep taking the exam and keep studying and eventually, i'll pass.

all four sections.

eventually.

jeeze.

my city was gone

i just made out big time on a used cd website. i bought six albums and used a promotional code to save $13.00. ultimately, i got six albums for next to nothing. they are:

the pretenders- learning how to crawl
lou reed- coney island baby
elvis costello- armed forces
talking heads- talking heads '77
marshall crenshaw- marshall crenshaw
paul mccartney- band on the run

this is a great day in america.

head full of doubt, road full of promise

reality sucks. the reality of cheeseburgers and football and beer is great. but the reality of this economy sucks. you might notice the dow jones ticking up every day and say, "well there's some good news." but really? step back. no, really. get up and step back. now, ask yourself: what is this good news based on? why is the dow jones going up? do you in your everyday life see anything changing?

i do. i see more houses for sale. i see more foreclosures. i see more empty commercial real estate. and i hear about more people i know losing their jobs. is that what drives up the dow jones? evidently.

most people out there believe it's going to get worse.

here are the 15 biggest congressional recipients of wall street campaign cash.

the china-america relationship is more like a booty-call relationship to me.

here is the 2008 acfe report to the nation on occupational fraud and abuse.

"i bless the rains down in africa."