3 Things I Hate About....

Long time no blog.

So far I have blogged on our political system, white privilege, other blogs, and the economy. (Oh yeah and music too) Typically when I sit down to write a blog I have only a few seconds of fore thought about what I am going to write. Sometimes it is a few hours. Tonight I started writing and had no idea what to write about. Here goes:

Halloween night, I did not dress up and attended a house show. While there huddled in a circle with my dude friends, and one random chick that we were all slightly hitting on, she said "I think you can tell more about a person by what they say they don't like than what they say they do like." This seemed pretty profound to me so I starting listing out the things I didn't like.
1. Penguins
2. Dirty snow
3. Searching for a parking spot
These are things that will without fail irritate me. And as the last month and a half has passed I have thought about what this means about me as a person. Here is my analysis.
1. I'm a sadistic animal hater, or more likely think penguins are odd irrational creatures. Also everyone loves them so of course I have to hate them (note: anything soy, Harry Potter, avocado, artichoke hearts, and whatever they latest lame ass entertainment trend is (see: Twilight)).
2. I have lived in Colorado basically my whole life. I get winter. Snow is one of my favorite things for so many reasons. Dirty snow on the other hand is gross, purposeless, a bi-product of man, and essentially it is perfection spoiled. Damn.
3. I have a limited amount of patience (I am human after all) and I give alot of that patience to the people around me, something has to suffer. Take that "good" parking spots.
If anyone actually reads this and wants to post their top hates in the comments I will analyze them for you. My job title is Star Analyst after all.

My Quick Two Cents

Chris for your sake I hope you don't read my blog cause I'm sure you're sick of the situation. But I have to say one thing.

The only thing more pathetic than that girl is the people who give a shit that it actually happened. Chris is an amazing person who is extremely successful in many areas. People want to diminish him by gawking, gossiping, and posting on their blogs about his life. They need to get a life, maybe if they did they would have a shot at become a quarter of the man that Chris is. Chris, is a model person and because he trusted someone and she turned out to be a conniving liar doesn't have any negative reflection on him.

If you blog posting dirtrags want to gossip and scathe, she should be the one to point those disgusting fingers at. But in all reality, everyone should move and on forget it, especially people not involved. Officially, I'm over it.

One Reason Google Is One Of The Worlds Greatest Companies

Whenever I think of my blog I realize how charged it is. There is always something that to me is provocative and mentally stimulating. This blog was intended to be whatever is going on around me that I felt the need to share, well it appears the only thing I care to share is what makes me think and what I hope will also make you think. I often say how I'm gonna blog this picture or that song which are typically asinine and arbitrary but I never do cause I fell like I could be so much better than an image of Alex and I with crazy hair after snowboarding.

Anyway, in the true spirit of what this blog appears to be here is a blog post from Google, who could be one of the greatest companies ever to exist. This post was taken straight from their company blog.

November 20th marks Transgender Remembrance Day, which takes on a special significance in a world awakening to the need for unity among all people. In observing this day, the Gayglers — the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) group within Google — extend their wholehearted support to the LGBT community at large, as we reflect on the senseless violence perpetrated against transgender people around the world.

People who identify or express their gender differently than the one assigned to them at birth usually call themselves transgender or transsexual. All too often, they are subjected to a range of not-so-subtle prejudices and transphobia, from verbal abuse to physical violence. Imagine walking into a public restroom in a state of dread over a confrontation about your appearance. Imagine visiting a doctor and worrying about how far to "out" yourself to receive appropriate care. Studies suggest that transgender people are 16 times more likely to be killed than the general population -- earlier this month, in fact, a transgender woman in Tennessee was murdered -- and this is just the most recent of many such cases.

We're fortunate here at Google, where there are LGB and T people at all levels of the company, thanks to enlightened hiring and promotion practices that set aside sexual orientation or gender presentation. Ultimately, Google fosters a workplace where everyone has the ability to be themselves at work. For transgender employees in particular, that means everything.

On this Transgender Remembrance Day, take just a few moments to remember the trans siblings, parents, friends and lovers who lost their lives to gender-based intolerance and hatred. Let's all share in a future where tolerance and understanding transforms the world. And let's work to create a better place for everyone to live peaceably in an all-inclusive world community that merits our deepest pride.

Honestly though, I can't imagine a more amazing company. Social constructions being thrown out the window in favor of the right person for the right job coming in the front door. Jim Collins, Matt Brown, Warren Buffet, and any intelligent person would be so proud. I am!

Take a second and think about two things. Please!

In honor of one of the best hip-hop groups around (that I'm willing to bet you don't listen to) think about these two things:


One.
You would rather have a Lexus or justice
A dream or some substance
A Beamer, a necklace or freedom

Two.
White Privilege.

I will post more on this later. But seriously, the second one, think about it really hard (I'm willing to bet you don't think about it often).

I Hate To Say...

Upon reading the New York Times website this morning I found a couple of interesting things I wanted to share. One is the article, Don't Just Spend, Do It Wisely. Not that it says exactly what I said in the post, State of the Economy, but the idea behind post articles is essentially the same. Do your research. Spend your money in the best way possible. Best in that sentence could mean alot of things but I intend for it to mean the way in which the most utility will be brought about from it. The way in which it will create the biggest return on the investment. The NYT article was an extremely macro version of my entirely micro post but both are equally applicable. Granted the macro version was applicable to Obama, and my micro version was applicable to everyone. Maybe I should write for the NYT.... maybe not haha.

The second article I found interesting was titled Saving Citi May Create More Fear. In economics there is a thing called moral hazard. In non-economics terms moral hazard is when a party is protected from risk, they will then become riskier than they would have been had they not been protected. It applies to such things as insurance, finance, and even possibly people who wear seatbelts (we won't get into that though). In the article they have the sentence

"But longer term, the new bailout could haunt regulators and taxpayers. The move ultimately may encourage banks to take more risks in the belief that the government will step in if they run into trouble."

Sounds to me like the definition of moral hazard. What do I propose to do? Someone write this into congress for me, cause it is one of the more decent ideas I have had.

The banks know who is defaulting on their loans. And the government is giving money to the banks to make them able to absorb the fact that these people won't pay the banks back. The government should give money to the people who are defaulting and give them the choice of a bank to switch their mortgage to. This way the people will pay their loans back, and to banks who are willing to restructure and give proper incentive (like not making more risky loans). This will allow the banks that are the best to flourish and the banks that we are bailing out to disappear. People will maintain their assets and not be forced into foreclosure or bankruptcy. For the future, banks will know that they cannot be risky and get bailed out, they will know that the consumer cares about smart banking policy and money security and that they have to make the right decision to stay in business (like most other business). Banks are here to serve the people, as is government, when the banks don't serve the people the government shouldn't serve the banks (who by the way are taking in tons of capital from Big Brother and not making as many loans as they should be). ...think about it.

Two Tounges...

Two Tongues. Rumors of this bands inception surfaced almost a year ago and had me giddy as a school girl, as it did for many other people I'm sure. For those unaware Two Tounges is comprised of 4 members, 2 from the band Saves The Day, and 2 from the band Say Anything. What makes them even more special is that the members from those bands include Chris Conley and Max Bemis. Again, people may not know but those 2 dudes are the main song writers for their respective bands, and both have immense critical acclaim backing their abilities. Eventually a song called Crawl surfaced on their myspace for enjoyment and world peace (still waiting on the latter) and specifics on the CD were also released. February 3, 2009 is the official release date and I am having difficulty waiting. For me this is so huge because Saves The Day was (and still is in many ways) it for me. They weren't just my favorite band, with my favorite record, and my favorite song, they were it. And Say Anything is a band that I admittedly jumped on the ...Is A Real Boy bandwagon and fell in lust with (and yes, lust is the right word as some of the adoration has faded but much still remains). I am excited to see the potential that this project has be fulfilled but I still have a question that no matter how many times I ask it, I never like the way I answer it. Will this album even come close to being as good as Through Being Cool? Hate to say it, but NO, not even remotely close.

I know I'm crazy to even compare the two but anything that Chris is involved with will always draw that comparison for me and the answer will always be the same. Through Being Cool is just too great of a record.

Real Life Comedy

Nothing is funnier to me than other people and their relationships, or attempts at them. I'm that asshole that is never in a relationship and judges everyone else's, I know this, and when reading this you should know that too.

But honestly, society has built up the relationship and it's importance so much so that it controls peoples thoughts, emotions, actions, even lives. There are a few different types of people when it comes to relationships that I have been able to pick out.

• The settler. This is someone who wants to be in a relationship so bad that they will take anyone who will take them
• The gold digger. Everyone knows what this one is, what people don't know is that it isn't just about the money. The gold digger can be someone who is in it for anything other than emotion, ie fame, friends, name dropping abilities (watch those toes), arm candy.
• The faker. This person doesn't want to be in a relationship at all, they don't want to do any of the work that a relationship requires, but they are in one anyway. Who knows why?
• The serial monogamist. Is in a relationship because it is all they know. Can often be a settler as well.
• The user. Related to the gold digger but is only interested in the sexual aspect of the relationship.
• The hopeless romantic. Thanks a lot The Notebook, Clueless, Sweet Home Alabama, and every other chick flick that has both genders falling in and out of love with "the one" every time they meet someone new.
• The lonely hearts cluber. This person is in a relationship because they have no friends and need something/someone to make them feel okay about being an introvert. Ironically this is a symptom that can develop (and often does) once in a relationship exclusively associating with the significant other in favor of a more balanced existence.
• The poser. A lot like the faker but you can tell why they are in the relationship, because relationships are cool, duh! It's like shoes or Daft Punk to them.
• The cheap trick. Because they want you want them. They need you to need them. They love you to love them.

I'm sure there are more but those should cover just about everyone. Oh yeah and then every once in a while you will find real thing (note: I can only cite Johnny Cash and June Carter as evidence for this since I'm pretty sure that's the only real relationship that's ever happened). And to all the offended, thanks for being in a relationship and taking this so seriously, that's the real life comedy of it all.

Don't let this win over you

I'm sure everyone around me is sick of the POSI barrage I have unleashed as of late but I could care less. Why? Cause I'm POSI and not gonna let anything bring me down. Now go listen to Set Your Goals, perhaps the best POSI band ever.


First Youtube embed on the blog!

POSI

I always say that it is easy to be positive when everything in life is going well but the real test is when things go to shit. I still believe this but I feel I must make an amendment to this thought. I honestly can't remember the last time my life went to shit or I had something to gripe about, not to say that bad things haven't happened but I have built up so much around me that if something isn't going to my liking I can focus on something else in my life and without even blinking realize that life is still great. Funny thing is I don't think I have built up any more than most other people, I think I just focus on the good things in life more than other people. That may sound a bit pretentious, to say that I am better at something than other people, but in this case it is my experience that the people in my life have more complaints than I do. This brings up a whole new point about whether they complain more because they have more on their plates or take more risks or are just in a different place but I will maybe address that another time.

Converge is it.

Converge is a band that has dramatically impacted my life and my view of music. For those who don't know, Converge is a hardcore/metal band that has legions of fans in the "underground" but has not and probably will never reach mainstream success. For me they are the epitome of what a band should be, and I would like to break down the reasons why I believe this.

• Sonically they have a sound that is truly unique. To music listeners who are unfamiliar with a harder and darker tone to music, I can see how Converge could be lumped in with all the other "hard" bands. However, to people to enjoy screaming and a harder edge in music Converge has a sound that is so unique and progressive that they stand as kings.
• Visually this band is everything that is right with the music industry. Jake Bannon, the vocalist, does all of the art for the band. He is a professor of art when not touring with Converge or other projects. The artwork for the Jane Doe album is a common tattoo for Converge fans, and his style is so distinct that liner art and other albums work also gets chosen for tattoos and is easily noticeable. The music video for Eagles Will Become Vultures (the best of their videos) is perhaps one of the most perfect pieces of film ever, and hardly anyone has seen it. If you do not appreciate loud, hard, screamy music I understand, but please check out the artwork for this band, it is without question amazing. The fact that the band devotes so much of itself to the artwork and imagery surround the project speaks volumes as to the complete package of true art that Converge is, and other bands are not.
• Lyrically Converge is like a rainbow during a hurricane. The music is super dissonant however the lyrics are extremely positive, cohesive, and beautifully crafted. This is what draws me to this band and I could write pages about their lyrics so I will just say this, lyrically Converge has the enviable ability to say so much with so little, succinct and powerful are the best adjectives that come to mind.
  
• Ethically empowered. Converge might as well be spelled DIY. Jake Bannon is co-founder and operator of Deathwish Inc., a record label devoted to counter-culture progression and alternative music. Kurt Ballou, guitarist, owns and operates GodCity Studios where the band records, the bands other projects record, and many other band go to have their music made into art. They do their own art, stand for many social causes, and only partner with companies of integrity, among many other traits that make them better than most other bands. Their lyrics, music, and actions are all in synch to make them ethically one of the most righteous bands ever.
  
• History. Converge has been around for nearly 20 years. Never changing who they are or what they stand for to "bust into the mainstream." Converge will most likely never have their video played on MTV unless at 2am, they will never be featured in a TV show unless as unknown background music, they will not likely reach mainstream radio play or sell out concerts at major arenas. Because of who they are and what they do this is their fate, and something tells me they would have it no other way. In the 20 years they have been around they have released 7 full lengths, a bakers dozen or so of EPs/Demos/Vinyl/Splits, 1 DVD, and been apart of other musical projects such as Doomriders, Old Man Gloom, Bane, Supermachiner, Cave In, and various other bands and solo projects. They are constantly contributing their art to the world.

In essence Converge is the most powerful band ever, and defines that word. Powerful.

Proof in the pudding (phone)

I always say you get out what you put in. I believe this holds true for just about everything in life. I put in a lot at my job, and on Friday my job gave me the phone I wanted and have been waiting for. I will say it again, YOU GET OUT WHAT YOU PUT IN.

(this is just one example, it really does apply to just about everything in life)

The Only True Fortune Cookie I've Seen

I went to lunch with my Mom today, we went to Pei Wei. After we finished eating, I had Dan Dan Noodles (so good), we opened our fortune cookies. I cannot remember what my Moms was because it was boring, lame, and entirely untrue as most fortune cookies are. I say most because the fortune in my cookie, although not a fortune, was very poignant. It read "Don't pursue happiness - create it" which was a funny fortune cookie for me to get. This is something I have realized since I was a little kid and once I reached the age of 18 I really had a grasp of this concept. No one or nothing can make you happy except yourself. So many people look to the future, another person, material items, God, or "waiting it out" to be happy. True happiness can only come from within when you are happy not only with yourself but where you are in your life. The "next step", a significant other, money, or fate cannot make anyone happy, those things can be a catalyst to happiness but only when the term content is too mediocre a word to describe your state of being. Even though I have a firm grasp on this concept I can lapse, life is tough at times. Let this be a reminder to both me and you, Don't pursue happiness - create it.

Who is that guy anyway?

This is my plea. It is quite possibly the most important plea I will make all year.

Friday night I went to go see Saosin, my favorite band, perform at the Filmore in Denver. And when I say I went to see them perform it is because they play their music flawlessly while being extremely entertaining. While this time around wasn't their best it is still better than many and most other bands around. While at the show I had the opportunity to see The Devil Wears Prada and Underoath as well. First time seeing TDWP while I've seen Underoath a half dozen times, or so. It was seeing these two bands in combination that made me realize I had to make this plea:

FIRE THE SYNTH PLAYER!

That's right, the band member that plays around on that Casio or Korg has got to go. Don't mistake this for me saying I don't want the synth in the music, without it I think both those bands (and many others) would not be as cohesive. Bands like Enter Shikari, Underoath, The Devil Wear Prada, and other have a presence on CD that is amplified by the differentiation in tone that the synth offers compared to the rest of the instrumentation. Formulaic bands with guitars, bass, and a drummer can be transformed into something more exciting with a synth. However, the live show has never and will never benefit from the chubby band mate that presses a key or two every 2 minutes. The band is better off with an iPOD and the extra cash in their pockets at the end of the night. Allow me for a moment to describe the stage presence of the synth player and then perhaps you will agree with my plea.

As the band walks out onto the stage (probably dimly lit) he is the one with both hands raised high in the air begging the crowd to praise him. He walks up to his rig (because he has multiple keyboards and a laptop out it is officially a rig) and presses a key on the Korg, doesn't matter what key since it is programmed to play once any key it pressed. He scrolls the laptop pad and makes a few clicks on the laptop but there is no real change in the sound, still the Korg plays on. Then the rest of the band begins to play and the synth player takes two minutes to frantically headband out of rhythm and shake his arms around about his head. Finally he presses another key and goes on to rock out again. For the bands not big enough to have the laptop yet fear not he is have a break from rocking out so hard by being the dude to grab a water bottle and throw it on the crowd, that's always sure to entrance the moshing 16 year olds. Finally as the show is coming to an end he is the one to press his last key on the rig and head off stage, a full 3 minutes before the song is even over.

To the bands, if you have any sense of showmanship left in you please heed my plea and FIRE THE SYNTH PLAYER!

TOYS!

So my homies at Joy Engine/Cypher 13 began this project called Soft & Furry months ago. They handmade some 100 or so toys and them sent them around the world (and locally) to be modified, designed, and birthed into full fledged characters. On September 13 they hosted a show at the Plastic Chapel in Denver to reveal what the artists from across the globe had created out of their molds. No one could have expected some of the toys that had been created. My favorite, was purchased by my boss Randall and is currently hiding out in his office. It is a modification of the Groond mold by Kristian Kluver and looks like this:
Which is incredible seeing as how the toy started as something like this:

I ended up purchasing a sibling set that was designed by a design firm in Australia called TOKO, here are the toys:


And I love them. I love them so much so that I made them little houses to hangout it on my wall. Not a ton of effort was put into the homes, or the picture taking but you can have a peak below. I figured building them a display was the least I could do since they had another sibling that was killed by a laser! Its a long but totally true story that is too heart wrenching to tell on a blog. The homes:

Voting, is it pointless, altrusitic, or something else?

Here is a great video from PBS that describes the economics of voting in laymen terms. It features one of the worlds most respected economists, Gordon Tullock.

Here is one of my favorite economists, Tyler Cowen, on voting:

Most of what you do is for expressive value anyway, so you shouldn't feel guilty about voting, if indeed you vote. The people who think they are being instrumentally rational by not voting are probably deceiving themselves more. They are actually engaged in an even less transparent form of expressive behavior (protest against the voting system) and yet cloaking that behavior under the guise of instrumental rationality. The best arguments against voting are simply if you either don't like voting or if you don't know which candidate is better. High-status people hardly ever offer the latter justification, even though the split of opinions among high-status people suggests that not all high-status people can in fact know which candidate is better.

In other words, both voting and not voting are motivated by the thought that you are better than other people. I am glad that we have an entire day devoted to this very important concept.

And here is an abstract of a paper by Julio Rotemberg on voting altruism:

This paper presents a goal-oriented model of political participation based on two psychological assumptions. The first is that people are more altruistic towards individuals that agree with them and the second is that people's well-being rises when other people share their personal opinions. The act of voting is then a source of vicarious utility because it raises the well-being of individuals that agree with the voter. Substantial equilibrium turnout emerges with nontrivial voting costs and modest altruism. The model can explain higher turnout in close elections as well as votes for third-party candidates with no prospect of victory. For certain parameters, these third party candidates lose votes to more popular candidates, a phenomenon often called strategic voting. For other parameters, the model predicts "vote-stealing" where the addition of a third candidate robs a viable major candidate of electoral support.

Here is the paper.

Here is another article on the altruistic nature of voting.

Are people really this altruistic? And if so what is their behavior like the other 364 days of the year? When going to the polls think about this and if you are that altruistic maybe it is time you act like it in other ways as well.

In American politics where every single voter is marginalized not only by the scope of the system but the tyrannical two-parties that run it, one can argue that a vocalized political stance against involvement in such a system would be more effective in truly changing the political schema. Voting because someone tells you to, or calls you names if you don't, is truly indicative of the level of American politics. This is why for 220 plus years there has been two dominate parties. And it is that same mindset that will perpetuate those two same major parties controlling American politics well into the future. True change comes from the people, not the parties or candidates they vote for.

Concerts

When I was in high school music was my life. Music was literally the only important thing to me and it consumed everything about me. Then I met my friends and they were the most important thing. Now I have a better balance of the elements that make up my life. However, when music was my reason for existence I went to shows all the time. I remember 2 week stints where I would go to a show every night, take a night off, and then do another 2 weeks. Good times.

On Thursday I went and saw The Faint, still one of the most crisp sounding bands in a live setting. They can replicate the sounds, tones, rhythm, and feel that is on their CD, but with a few hundred other folks to dance with.

Last night, Halloween, I went to a house show and it brought me back to booking house shows and warehouse shows for my friends bands. I remember making connections around town and meeting all kinds of people who felt the same way I did, DIY!

Tonight I prepare to go to see my friends performing once again, although this time it is a little different. They are playing at a legitimate venue and have support from large companies to make their music their lives.

It is interesting to me that after all the years of being around and working hard and standing for something, that I may have moved out of music being my life. And other people I know have moved into it. I would not change anything that has happened and love my life and where things have taken me. I love that my friends are successful at what they are doing and even if it wasn't music, I want them to do well. I guess I am just being nostalgic for the years when music reigned. Also, I'm super excited to revert back to my 16 year old ways since I feel more like a 46 year old these days.

State of the economy

Everytime I tell someone now what my major was in college the common response is "well, with the state of the economy, what is your opinion? what do you think we should do?" This is an extremely tough question to answer for two reasons. One is that although economics is my major and I was great at it, the economy is tremendous that economics uses simplified models to make sense of it all, one person spending an entire lifetime can't get very far (unless your Becker). What I know about the state of the economy is a collaboration of many other collaborations to try and make sense of it all. The second reason that is a tough question is because nothing about our economic state is defined. We are still dancing around the R word (thats recession for non-dorks), the Dow jumped almost 1k yesterday (a dramatic turn), and many of the key elements to a textbook recession just aren't there (what does a credit crunch really look like then?).

My opinion on the state of the economy is that it is down... duh! Who cares about a text book recession, or a bank crisis, or what the fed is going to do tomorrow. If you are feeling the hit in your wallet and your emotional state then the economy is down. Ready for the shocker? Who cares about that either. We know that the economy is cyclical and Keynes showed that there are actions that can smooth it out, even if you can't name what will do it in jargon you have been taught it through common sense and general money management (I hesitate to say money management since in America we spend 101% of all the money we make, not including government debt, we should call it debt management). Keynes thought we need government to get us out of a downturn but I just think we need smarter consumers. Government is an option but not the only one.

In a downturn if people pull their money out of the economy and out of investment the economy will have nothing to recover, think of it like a complex game of marbles. If no one is bringing any marbles to the table it wont draw anyone else to bring their marbles, everyone is standing around holding their marbles which are now worth nothing since you can't even use them. Put your money into the economy to make it worth something, but do it in a smart way. Only invest when the interest rate is good, interest rates although set by the Fed are a market and you can get a better deal than what is first offered to you, play the market. If investing isn't your style then spend the disposable income you have, people like to save in a downturn "for a rainy day", but this is the rainy day and if you don't spend it could become a hurricane. Make sure you are smart and cover your needs but then go out and buy tangible goods that will be of good use to you for the future (like a bike!).

And lastly, although it is extremely difficult don't let it ruin your life. It is temporary, it will pass. Luckily we have many smart people who are brave enough to stay out of government and make their impact from elsewhere, maybe Helicopter Ben will read their books and blogs and make some good moves to pull us out quicker.

P.S. Please don't read this and take it all to heart. Hopefully it sparked some interest and you read up more on the economy. I am not the only say and there are a lot of people who are smarter than I am that would disagree with me (and a lot that would agree).

OMG!!!

If you care to see what interests me educationally click the link below. This makes me want to get my masters or doctorate.
http://oyc.yale.edu/economics/game-theory/

So thats why they started the saloon....

So the last few days I have been going out with different people every night. Between the friends and co-workers, new friends and even the people I've never met before, I have come to realize a few things.

1. I still have the best friends in the world. My friends are better in every sense than most of the people out there.
2. Age doesn't matter much, I have been the 22 year old approaching the 40 year olds, and then some of the people I have been with were the 42 year old approaching the 20 year old.
   
3. Age matters a little, I hope I can rock it like Max D when I'm in my 40s.
4. Going out is great to break up monotony. I could easily get bogged down in work and find an excuse to not go out but when the opportunity arises I find myself saying YES! and really enjoying myself.
5. So much more can happen when you go out rather than staying in. Both good and bad, but at least something is happening. After all isn't change good? (Real change, not Obama change)
6. There is always the drunk KSU fans or girls in wigs a week before Halloween to make fun of and who doesn't feel better about themselves after a good senseless verbal bashing from a safe distance
7. I LOVE my friends. (See #1)
   

It's like breakfast

So my computer blew up. Literally it made a loud bang or four and smelled like smoke and shut off, luckily my brother knows everything about computers and will get it working again. In the mean time he gave me one of his many computers to hold me over, cause I could never live without the internet.

Whats new with me? I get asked this alot. And it seems like the less I have new going on, the more people ask it. All I get to respond is that I'm working alot and I like it. And I suppose that isn't even that new. I've been on the nose to the grindstone train since May and I don't anticipate getting off of it anytime soon. So then what else do you do besides work? That's typically the next question I get. The answer is spend as much time with my friends as they will give me and decompress from work so I can do it again. When put into words this existence sounds lame and unfulfilling but it is actually quite the opposite. Everyday I get to work on something that I know is going to be great and I get to do this in a way that is truly impactful. I have more of a stake in the direction of my company at the age of 22 than I ever thought I would by the time I was 50. This is the allure of smaller companies but even within my company I feel that the culture is conducive to the smartest and hardest working get to have the most say, which is an appropriate consequence of incentives. So aside from justifying my long work weeks there, hopefully I prevented anyone who reads this (or my future self since no one reads this) from asking that type of question.

No Such Thing As A Free Lunch...

It is true that there is no such thing as a free lunch. If anyone can prove otherwise to me I will indeed pay for a lunch wherever that non-existent person wants to go. This got me to thinking about ways to get the cheapest lunch possible since free is out of the question (try to follow; this all allusions, I'm not talking about food even though I am). I've had many a lunch that I did not pay for, my parents have bought me many meals, as have other people. If the cost of the meal is not monetary and also not disclosed, I will safely assume that this is the most expensive lunch on the planet. Even parents who operate under the pretense of love will happily hold a meal over their child's head when it comes to them wanting something. And those are the people we trust the most. The cost of that meal is then whatever they say it is whenever they want to say it. What about when your boss pays for your lunch, or a significant other. On the same lines, what if a person under you at work or your enemy bought your lunch? What would be the cost of that? (still thinking about food? well stop it!) The cheapest lunch is one you work for yourself. This doesn't mean you should not let people aide you in earning your own lunch, you don't have to start your own company to work for the money to start the farm to grow the food... and so on. What it means is that what will get you the furtherest toward a free lunch (by this point I am debating calling it golden egg) is hard work. If you work hard and make sure that you don't owe anyone anything other than the rights that all humans deserve then your lunch will be as cheap as possible. If you are given an opportunity or a handout, work harder than expected and make sure you earn everything. The kid with the silver spoon in his mouth is a theif and it will catch up to them. (honestly, what could be worse than the person who eats a free lunch with a silver spoon?)

Yom Kippur

Both of my parents are Jewish by heritage, and both practice the religion in their own way although I will say that my father is a bit more orthodox than my mother. My brother and I are straight bastard children of the faith and are horrible practitioners. I find the limitations that religion imposes on my life unnecessary and ultimately they lead to my unhappiness. There are parts of the tradition of Judaism, and parts of the heritage, that I am drawn to and see purpose in. One of those pieces of the faith is the holiday of Yom Kippur, which is in essence a day of atonement. Some people use it as a day to make up for the bad things they have done to other people, or to reflect on their position in society, or a number of other reasons. I like to use it as a day to make myself better, I like to take a full assesment of myself, see what I'm good at, what I'm not good at, and find a way to improve everything. Thursday is the big day and I wil be spending the day with my father going to and from temple multiple times plus a break the fast dinner. Is this a push towards me being a better Jew?

Blogs, Blogs, Blogs!

Blogs are highly polarized. There are great blogs, and there are crappy blogs. I don't see any gray space. To this effect here is a list of blogs I consider to be great. The best blog on the internet is:

• Marginal Revolution

And then there are the rest of the blogs:

• Freakonomics
• Paul Krugman
• The Becker-Posner Blog (honestly, one of the best blog ideas I've ever seen. If anyone wants to take on a _____-Lesser blog I'd consider it)
• Greg Mankiw

As you can see I like econ blogs alot. But there are all sorts of other blogs I like:

• Joy Engine
• Engadget
• Geekologie
• Hot Chicks With Douche Bags
• Crackberry
• Trackosaurus Rex
• Trackstar NYC
• King Kog
• Honeyee (blogroll)
• Fatlace (blogroll, please come back soon)
• Boy Genius Report
• Chris Reinhard

If you have a blog to suggest let me know. I'm always hungry for information (or in the case of Hot Chicks with Douche Bags useless nonsense).

Cold or Calculating?

I am not much of an advice giver. If you know me well enough you will find that my advice most of the time is to suck it up, and change your attitude (that and if we talk about music I will probably make fun of your musical tastes and advise you towards Converge or The Wonder Years). I've been told countless times that I'm cold and unsympathetic, usually with a tone of condemnation. The more I think about it though, the more I am right. Most of the time when I get to that spot of heartlessness the best thing for the person is to focus on what they can control. It is a purely logical frame of thinking, but I'm an extremely logical person (even to a fault at times). What interests me the most is that I am being empathic, I put myself into their shoes, and that's what I come up with. It is typically a statement like "you can't change that, but you can change your attitude about it" or "you need to find the positive things in this." Probably not the best things to say to someone who needs comforting but that's who I am and that's what works for me.

On a similar note: I think I'm one of the most posi and level headed people around, which from everything I have been reading lately is prime for what I want in life. I don't see myself changing on this front much, I have always been this way, what I do see is me honing the craft and using my rationality a little more rationally.

If I were offered to be hung or to be shot, I'd choose to live

False Dichotomy - a logical fallacy in which there are only two options considered when more options exist. Sound familiar? Who will you be voting for this year? I have resisted making this post for years (between my various blogs), and now it is more important then ever as important as always (don't be fooled by appeals to importance to undermine your decision making) to understand the trap that is American politics. I could write an entire book on this so I will use formatting to keep it short.

• Politicians only say what the voter wants to hear despite their personal beliefs as a means to get elected
  
• This leads to the candidates moving towards the middle of the political spectrum where the majority of the voters are, this is called the median voter theorem
• This also leads to candidates saying anything and everything that the majority wants to hear, they are mostly empty promises (all under the guise of being benevolent)
• This leads to the social construction that there only two options
• When there are two options presented to you, both of which are unsatisfactory you will choose "the lesser of two evils" instead of seeking out what will actually satisfy you
• This allows the two parties in the majority to then converge into one party, while maintaining the image of separation
• This leads to the parties (and politicians within them) getting what they want despite who is elected and all they have to do is pretend to be different with their empty promises leading up to the election

This is the circle that is padding the wallets of the gentlemen in congress wearing suits in their mansions (or in McCain's case 7 homes), taking vacation in July while the housing market takes another hit. It is a similar system that keeps women out of politics, board rooms, and below the glass ceiling. I will only give one supporting piece of evidence although like I said, there's a books worth. George Washington, our first president, is the only president in American history to be independent.

In an effort...

This post is just fragmented thought, I could spend the time to develop it more clearly, but I'm a busy boy with work right now always. Another time perhaps. Hopefully you find it worth reading and develop an idea of your own.

In an effort to make this thing real I am posting despite an extremely busy day. Here is something to think about since I just watched the movie The Prestige (which is awesome and if you haven't seen it yet I highly recommend it).

Quote: "Every great magic trick consists of three parts or acts. The first part is called "The Pledge". The magician shows you something ordinary: a deck of cards, a bird or a man. He shows you this object. Perhaps he asks you to inspect it to see if it is indeed real, unaltered, normal. But of course... it probably isn't. The second act is called "The Turn". The magician takes the ordinary something and makes it do something extraordinary. Now you're looking for the secret... but you won't find it, because of course you're not really looking. You don't really want to know. You want to be fooled. But you wouldn't clap yet. Because making something disappear isn't enough; you have to bring it back. That's why every magic trick has a third act, the hardest part, the part we call "The Prestige"."

This quote uses magic as the subject but it can easily be abstracted as a metaphor for life as a whole (what can't with enough imagination right?). So if what we are doing now (working, living, building) is The Pledge, is our death The Turn, and what we accomplish that exists beyond us The Prestige?

Or perhaps, our work/life/building (whatever you want to call it) is The Pledge, and our death is The Turn, but The Prestige is never occurs, it is the secret we can never realize. (see: "Now you're looking for the secret... but you won't find it, because of course you're not really looking.")

Or more realistically it is a movie that has themes that can be stretched to be what you want, cause most likely the interpretation you create was never intended. But that's rather boring, so I will opt out of that possible answer.

What defines the things that define me? Skimming the surface.

When I decided to start this blog (like 5 minutes ago) I asked myself "do I need to introduce myself to my audience?" And finally came to the conclusion that if you are reading this you probably already know me, or if you keep up with the blog you eventually will get to know me pretty well. (I'd like to pretend that I'm more complex than being able to know me based off a blog, or myspace/facebook/etc for that matter, but maybe I'm not). Then that got me thinking about the things that define me, i.e. how would I have introduced and defined myself? Again I want to pretend that I'm more complex than a set of words that can define me. (Sidenote: What is my obsession with being complex today?) So in a ode to reality and giving up on pretending I want to list some things that helped shape me to who I am. Note: this is not who I am but what has made me who I am.

• Growing up in Boulder, CO
• Getting an economics degree
• Having amazing family and friends
  
• Having divorced parents
• Saves The Day (more accurately music but Saves The Day changed my life in a profound way when I was younger, and led me to many other bands which led me to more bands and so on)
• Computers and the internet (yup me=1337 d0rk)
• My father's work ethic
• My mother's sense of logic
• Living in a world where anything is possible
  

After making this list I realized that each one of these could be a blog post so don't be surprised if you find these things recurring in the future. Also, I realized making that list was harder than I had expected as I could have gone on for days. I will leave it at that and perhaps revisit it another day.

The Beginning Of The End

I'm certain that this is the millionth blog I have started. I can't promise that I will keep it going, but I fully intend to. I feel obligated to legitimize this blog (as I have all my others) even though I am questioning whether or not that is what sets these things up for failure. So this time I want to point out why this one will succeed where the others have failed. For one, the scope of this blog is too large to get tied down trying to prove something. I'm not spouting out my economics beliefs (although I will), and I'm certainly not trying to fit into a mold of a scene (catch ya later livejournal RIP sorrowingxstar). This time it is just me, being me, completely honestly. I'm hoping that I can share things on here that I won't even admit to myself. Secondly, I feel like the more I experience, especially within the literary world, I understand that there is a fine line between being a horrible writer and a great one. I am determined not to let my self-consciousness about my writing deter me writing publicly.

After what I perceive is a sufficient legitimization for this experiment, I want to move onto something more important to me for this blog. The content. Thanks for reading the intro, and keep abreast (haha breast) for updates.