This week has been very busy, and it still isn't over yet. We have a big release coming up at work next week, so I'm putting in some long hours at the office. Also, we are moving tomorrow to the outskirts of DC (hopefully just temporarily), so I've been packing when I get home at night. (We hired movers for the actual move, something I wouldn't have dreamed of doing two years ago on my salary. "Movers?! Who am I, Warren Buffett?" It's nice having a real income.)
In addition to all this, we have two wedding events to attend this weekend. A mehndi party on Saturday night and a ceremony on Sunday. Sunday at 3pm, which means I pretty much don't get to watch any football. I'm not happy about this. Not at all. Who has a wedding on a Sunday afternoon?
Anyway, the upshot of my busyness is that I don't have time for a full entry this week. But don't worry, I'll be back next week with enthralling topics like what I dislike about the iPhone, and how black people say "axe" instead of "ask".
Until next week...
Friday, October 28, 2011
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Entry 88: Could You Pay Me Under the Table? (I Got a Little Tax Problem)
The title of this entry comes from the "Trouble with Trillions" episode of The Simpsons, one of the funniest episodes ever, in my opinion. The premise is that Homer gets in trouble for misstating his taxes and has to work for the IRS as settlement (my title is what Homer says to the IRS agent he makes the deal with). His mission is to go undercover and find a trillion dollar bill. The bill was commissioned by the government for reconstruction efforts after WWII and given to Mr. Burns "America's richest and therefore most trustworthy man" to deliver to Europe, but the bill was never received. One of my favorite lines from the episode: "We believe Burns still has that bill hidden somewhere in his house. But all we've ascertained from satellite photos is that it's not on the roof!"
Hilarious stuff, to be sure, but in reality, misstating your taxes is no laughing matter. I should know, S and I just received a notice in the mail saying that we owe the city of DC an additional several thousand dollars for 2010 taxes. At first we were indignant, thinking there is a mistake, but as we looked at our return we realized that the city was right. Basically, what happened is that part of our taxes were paid by S's former employer (for technical reasons I won't go into) -- the federal part was paid directly to the US government, but the district part was paid to us incrementally, and then we were to pass it on to the DC government. We neglected to properly explain this to our tax preparer, so he erroneously stated on our return that some of our DC taxes (the part paid by S's former employer) had already been paid directly, which it hadn't. (Our fault, I'd like to blame our preparer, but he had no way of knowing the federal-district distinction without us telling him.) And now, that's the money we owe.
Fine, we made a mistake, we'll pay what we owe in full, but here's what burns me about the whole ordeal, DC levied a $650 penalty and charged us $350 for interest. ($350! For a few months of interest on a few thousand dollars?! Talk about predatory rates. I could do better at the Payday Loans with the barred windows and the bullet-proof glass at the end of my block.) So basically, we're out $1,000 for a very honest and reasonable (in my view) mistake. And if we don't pay by the October 30th, we owe an additional $1,300 in late penalties. The letter is dated October 19th. They give us 11 days to pay several thousand dollars (thankfully, we have the money on-hand -- our down payment pot just shrunk a bit -- and the check is in the mail already). Really? This is a justifiable penalty for our "offense", a $1000 fine that could be as much as $2,300? Of course not. It's petty and punitive government bullshit, and it's exactly the type of thing that stokes the flames of the Tea Baggers and other "small government" extremists. How about something like a $50 processing fee and $150 in interest? That seems perfectly fair to me. I'd pay it with no complaints. But no, the city of DC apparently can't pass up a golden opportunity to f--- a few honest citizens in their collective a--.
I told some friends about this last night over drinks, and they think I can probably get the fines reduced if I go to the DC tax office and talk to somebody in person. At the very least, they seem confident that the district would extend the time before the additional $1,300 late fee would kick in (which is moot in our case since the check has already been sent). As one friend put it, we were probably flagged in some sort of automated system and received a standard letter, and we might be able to appeal by explaining our situation. But this doesn't seem much better to me. For one, DC doesn't exactly give you much time to appeal anything with another $1,300 fine lurking in 11 days. For two, if they're assessing large penalties that can easily be reduced through appeal, then that's bullshit too. That's what asshole credit card companies do. They put large BS fines on people's accounts, and then waive them immediately if people challenge them, knowing that not everybody will challenge. If that is fact what the city government is doing, then that's completely corrupt, if you ask me. Anyway, I probably will talk to somebody at the tax office, or send a letter, but regardless of the outcome I already think the whole process is a total crock of shite.
And as if I didn't have a bad enough taste in my mouth concerning the city, the morning after getting this letter, my car was "courtesy towed", meaning it was parked in a tow-away zone, but just moved down the block to a legal space instead of to an impound lot. Very courteous of the city -- except for the $100 ticket on my dashboard. But, in this one I basically have no grounds for complaints. It was very clearly marked that it's a no parking zone from 7am - 7pm (I parked there the night after 7pm and tried to get my car the next morning around 8:30). The thing is, every street has different rules for different permits at different times of the day (and then there is weekly street sweeping), and if you don't read all the signage carefully you run the risk of getting a ticket. If you park on the street everyday like I do, then sometimes you just forget to be diligent and get dinged. It happens.
I look at parking tickets as an expense that comes with owning a car in DC, an expense that over the five or so years I've lived in DC has probably totaled around $1,000. This might sound quite high, but it's roughly 10% of what I would've paid had I been renting a parking space all that time. So, from a strictly financial perspective, I'm way ahead by parking on the street. Convenience-wise parking on the street is worse obviously, but it rarely takes me longer than five minutes to find a spot, and when I do it's almost always closer than any available rental spot would be. When we moved back to DC a few months ago, S was sorta pushing to rent a parking space, but I didn't want to, and since I'm the primary driver, we didn't. Good move, actually. Parking spaces just aren't worth it, even if they do prevent the occasional courtesy tow.
Alright, changing topics, I went out last night, and for the second week in a row I ended up in my old neighborhood Adams Morgan. Unlike last week, I made the northward walk along 18th Street between Florida Ave and Columbia Ave, which means I was an audience member for the weekly weekend night spectacle that is "The 18th Street Shit Show". It's just a giant bacchanalian orgy -- cars are bumper to bumper bumpin' their systems, people are kissing and groping in the street, chicks are walking around with their ghetto-booties hanging out their skin-tight dresses, preppy dudes are stumbling by in flip-flops with their collars popped, thugs are standing around looking thuggish, there's a police cruiser on every corner, and everybody is devouring giant disgusting folded-over wedges of cheap pizza from grease-soaked paper plates. So basically, it's an awesome show -- once in a while. If you live there for four years, as I did, it gets old fast.
[Although you can't tell, near the white door at the intersection two police officers are questioning a very intoxicated early twenty-something-year old man. They probably should arrest him for his own safety. He seriously was on the verge of stumbling into incoming traffic.]
Actually, there was (is?) a group of home owners in the area who wanted to shut down the shit show by going after 18th street businesses' liquor licenses. I don't think they got very far, and frankly, they should be carefully what they wish for. The economy ain't supporting high end restaurants and retailers or $500,000 condos right now. If you force out the dive bars and seedy dance clubs, you're asking for a lot of vacant buildings, and I don't think that's a step in the right direction. Plus, there are some decent establishments amidst the sleaze, and during the week and the weekend days, it's actually a nice place to live. Adams Morgan is the Wolfman of DC neighborhoods and Friday and Saturday nights are the full moons. It's mild-mannered 156 hours of the week, but for those other 12 hours, it transforms into something weird and grotesque and something that should be portrayed by Benicio Del Toro in a bad movie. Wait, that last one doesn't really make sense, scratch it.
Until next week...
Hilarious stuff, to be sure, but in reality, misstating your taxes is no laughing matter. I should know, S and I just received a notice in the mail saying that we owe the city of DC an additional several thousand dollars for 2010 taxes. At first we were indignant, thinking there is a mistake, but as we looked at our return we realized that the city was right. Basically, what happened is that part of our taxes were paid by S's former employer (for technical reasons I won't go into) -- the federal part was paid directly to the US government, but the district part was paid to us incrementally, and then we were to pass it on to the DC government. We neglected to properly explain this to our tax preparer, so he erroneously stated on our return that some of our DC taxes (the part paid by S's former employer) had already been paid directly, which it hadn't. (Our fault, I'd like to blame our preparer, but he had no way of knowing the federal-district distinction without us telling him.) And now, that's the money we owe.
Fine, we made a mistake, we'll pay what we owe in full, but here's what burns me about the whole ordeal, DC levied a $650 penalty and charged us $350 for interest. ($350! For a few months of interest on a few thousand dollars?! Talk about predatory rates. I could do better at the Payday Loans with the barred windows and the bullet-proof glass at the end of my block.) So basically, we're out $1,000 for a very honest and reasonable (in my view) mistake. And if we don't pay by the October 30th, we owe an additional $1,300 in late penalties. The letter is dated October 19th. They give us 11 days to pay several thousand dollars (thankfully, we have the money on-hand -- our down payment pot just shrunk a bit -- and the check is in the mail already). Really? This is a justifiable penalty for our "offense", a $1000 fine that could be as much as $2,300? Of course not. It's petty and punitive government bullshit, and it's exactly the type of thing that stokes the flames of the Tea Baggers and other "small government" extremists. How about something like a $50 processing fee and $150 in interest? That seems perfectly fair to me. I'd pay it with no complaints. But no, the city of DC apparently can't pass up a golden opportunity to f--- a few honest citizens in their collective a--.
I told some friends about this last night over drinks, and they think I can probably get the fines reduced if I go to the DC tax office and talk to somebody in person. At the very least, they seem confident that the district would extend the time before the additional $1,300 late fee would kick in (which is moot in our case since the check has already been sent). As one friend put it, we were probably flagged in some sort of automated system and received a standard letter, and we might be able to appeal by explaining our situation. But this doesn't seem much better to me. For one, DC doesn't exactly give you much time to appeal anything with another $1,300 fine lurking in 11 days. For two, if they're assessing large penalties that can easily be reduced through appeal, then that's bullshit too. That's what asshole credit card companies do. They put large BS fines on people's accounts, and then waive them immediately if people challenge them, knowing that not everybody will challenge. If that is fact what the city government is doing, then that's completely corrupt, if you ask me. Anyway, I probably will talk to somebody at the tax office, or send a letter, but regardless of the outcome I already think the whole process is a total crock of shite.
And as if I didn't have a bad enough taste in my mouth concerning the city, the morning after getting this letter, my car was "courtesy towed", meaning it was parked in a tow-away zone, but just moved down the block to a legal space instead of to an impound lot. Very courteous of the city -- except for the $100 ticket on my dashboard. But, in this one I basically have no grounds for complaints. It was very clearly marked that it's a no parking zone from 7am - 7pm (I parked there the night after 7pm and tried to get my car the next morning around 8:30). The thing is, every street has different rules for different permits at different times of the day (and then there is weekly street sweeping), and if you don't read all the signage carefully you run the risk of getting a ticket. If you park on the street everyday like I do, then sometimes you just forget to be diligent and get dinged. It happens.
I look at parking tickets as an expense that comes with owning a car in DC, an expense that over the five or so years I've lived in DC has probably totaled around $1,000. This might sound quite high, but it's roughly 10% of what I would've paid had I been renting a parking space all that time. So, from a strictly financial perspective, I'm way ahead by parking on the street. Convenience-wise parking on the street is worse obviously, but it rarely takes me longer than five minutes to find a spot, and when I do it's almost always closer than any available rental spot would be. When we moved back to DC a few months ago, S was sorta pushing to rent a parking space, but I didn't want to, and since I'm the primary driver, we didn't. Good move, actually. Parking spaces just aren't worth it, even if they do prevent the occasional courtesy tow.
Alright, changing topics, I went out last night, and for the second week in a row I ended up in my old neighborhood Adams Morgan. Unlike last week, I made the northward walk along 18th Street between Florida Ave and Columbia Ave, which means I was an audience member for the weekly weekend night spectacle that is "The 18th Street Shit Show". It's just a giant bacchanalian orgy -- cars are bumper to bumper bumpin' their systems, people are kissing and groping in the street, chicks are walking around with their ghetto-booties hanging out their skin-tight dresses, preppy dudes are stumbling by in flip-flops with their collars popped, thugs are standing around looking thuggish, there's a police cruiser on every corner, and everybody is devouring giant disgusting folded-over wedges of cheap pizza from grease-soaked paper plates. So basically, it's an awesome show -- once in a while. If you live there for four years, as I did, it gets old fast.
[Although you can't tell, near the white door at the intersection two police officers are questioning a very intoxicated early twenty-something-year old man. They probably should arrest him for his own safety. He seriously was on the verge of stumbling into incoming traffic.] Actually, there was (is?) a group of home owners in the area who wanted to shut down the shit show by going after 18th street businesses' liquor licenses. I don't think they got very far, and frankly, they should be carefully what they wish for. The economy ain't supporting high end restaurants and retailers or $500,000 condos right now. If you force out the dive bars and seedy dance clubs, you're asking for a lot of vacant buildings, and I don't think that's a step in the right direction. Plus, there are some decent establishments amidst the sleaze, and during the week and the weekend days, it's actually a nice place to live. Adams Morgan is the Wolfman of DC neighborhoods and Friday and Saturday nights are the full moons. It's mild-mannered 156 hours of the week, but for those other 12 hours, it transforms into something weird and grotesque and something that should be portrayed by Benicio Del Toro in a bad movie. Wait, that last one doesn't really make sense, scratch it.
Until next week...
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Entry 87: House Hunting, Etc.
[Millie & Al's, where I spent much of last night. It's one of the myriad dive bars in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington DC.]Very tired today. I went to sleep late and woke up early. A bunch of people were out last night, some of whom I haven't seen since being back from Australia, so despite being quite tired from working all week, I decided to join them. Here's the text I wrote to my friend:
"Cool. I'll stop by for a drink. Can't stay out too late tonite tho."
Smash cut to me stumbling into our condo at 3:47am. You should never make pronouncements like I did. You're just asking for the exact opposite to happen. Irony's a bitch.
I woke up early because S and I had to look at some houses with our real estate agent, and for some reason he only had time in the morning. Actually, I know why, he told us. It's because he has dinner guests coming over tonight. I'm not sure why that precluded starting in the afternoon, but whatever.
[A butterfly on some flowers in the yard of a house we looked at in Bethesda.]I didn't really want to go, it was more of a "keep the peace" move, because S wanted to go, but as it turns out, I'm happy we went. We looked at two places in Rockville, MD, both of which were nice, but it's so far away from where the action is. S and I really want to stay as close to DC as possible, but we also want a decent sized house, in a decent neighborhood that's in our price range. So basically we want something that doesn't exist, but damn it, we're looking anyway. We got a little bit warmer with the third and final place we looked at in Bethesda, MD. S really liked it, I thought it was OK.
It's all very preliminary at this point, anyway. We signed a lease to rent an apartment for five months starting in November, so I don't think we'll be serious about making offers until closer to the spring, but it's a good idea to see what's available at what prices and get a notion of what we like and don't like. Or so S keeps telling me. I can never be sure with that woman. See, she enjoys things like house hunting, whereas I feel they are chores -- you do them because you have to. So, sometimes she'll exaggerate the urgency of the situation to get me to go along with her and keep my griping to a minimum (you can never silence my griping completely, I can always manage something, it's just a skill I have). For instance, when I suggested that it might be a bit early to start looking for places considering our rental lease hasn't even started yet, she told me that it can take three months to close, so we need to start right away. Then, today our agent told us it's usually 30 days, and in fact, 45 days is on the long end, so, not exactly three months. With that said, I am glad we went today, so no harm, no foul.
Changing topics completely, Herman Cain, former Godfather's Pizza bigwig, is the current candidate du jour in the Republican primary. I don't think he's winning (I'm sticking with Romney), but can you imaging if he did.? Cain versus Obama, wouldn't that be something? Not only would it be two black men vying for the presidency, but it would be two black Republicans! (Hey-o! That's my Bill Maher-esque joke. I've been getting a lot of traction out of it.)
[The seed of Herman Cain's political career. A town hall in which he challenges presidential hopeful Bill Clinton on healthcare. Cain does a pretty good job, but check out how smooth Clinton is in his rebuttal, rattling off a bunch of percentages from memory, making jokes. "Slick Willy" indeed.]
Cain's signature issue is his 9-9-9 tax reform plan. Critics claim that it would shift the tax burden away from the rich onto the middle class and the poor. I haven't really looked into it extensively enough to comment, but I don't like Cain for other reasons. I heard him go off about how if you can't find a job you shouldn't blame the government or Wall Street, you should blame yourself. Look, I get the whole personal responsibility thing, we all know people who do more bitching than they do doing when it comes to their stations in life, but for God's sake Herman, do the math. Unemployment is currently around 9-10%, that's about 4-5% higher than it was was in 5 years ago. That's about 7 million more people without jobs. What happened? Did these 7 million people quit so that they could take a government handout? Were they fired for being lazy? Of course not, they were essentially laid off when the economy tanked four years ago, and now they are struggling to get back to work. When you have five people applying for every one open position, what are the other four people supposed to do? This narrative, pushed primarily by the tea bag faction of the GOP, that people just need to buckle down and get to work, simply doesn't cohere with reality right now. Maybe I would have bought this line in the late-90's, but certainly not now. Especially not when you have people literally, lining up and protesting, not for handouts, but for jobs. People want to work. The jobs just aren't there, that's the whole problem, and to a large extent, you can blame Wall Street and the government. In 2007, they're fucked us good.
[Members of DC Jobs Or Else, protesting a constructing site.]Completely changing topics yet again, I was almost right on the money with my Fashion Week prediction for Project Runway. I said it would be Viktor, Anya, and Joshua, with Laura and Kimberley eliminated, and I got everything right except that Kimberley made it as well and only Laura was eliminated. I didn't know that they sometimes allow four people to qualify for the final challenge. I thought it was three every season. Had I known that, I might have chosen Kimberley to go also.
And speaking of predicting things, I'm in a giant NFL survivor pool, where each week you pick one team to win, and if they do, you keep going and if they don't you're out. Whoever survives the longest wins the competition (and possibly some money). It's down to about 150 survivors from about 700, and I'm one of them. Last week I initially chose the Giants to beat my beloved (but kinda crappy) Seahawks, but I changed it at the last minute because I already had the Giants in a different smaller pool and I didn't want to completely root against my team. Great move! My pick (the Saints) came through, and the Seahawks beat the Giants in a dramatic upset. I watched it at the sports bar amid a cluster of Giants fans, and when the play below happened, oh was it glorious.
[I probably sounded just as stupid as the amateur cameraman when I watched this play.]
Well, I guess that just about puts a bow on this one.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Entry 86: Ass Burgers, Project Runway, Etc.
"Ass Burgers" was the title of this week's hilarious South Park episode. Everybody thinks that Stan developed Asperger's syndrome from a vaccine, and so Cartman -- mishearing the name as "ass burgers" -- tries to trick the school nurse into believing that he has Asperger's by putting hamburgers in his butt. I thought it was funny, in large part, because I was just last week having a conversation with people about what a terrible name Asperger's is for a disorder, especailly a social disorder. My joke about it: "Asperger's! What kind of name is that? It sounds like a term the evil older brother would use in an 80's comedy, 'And if mom finds out about this, you're dead, ass burger!'" Haha... I'll have to use that one in my fictitious standup routine. Actually, this happens from time to time. I'll think of a funny idea, and then I'll see or hear that same basic idea put into action on a TV show or podcast. On the one hand it's like, "I knew that was funny!" On the other hand it's like, "Wait, now it's not mine anymore. If I say it people will think I stole it."
Completely changing topics, I played racquetball this week for the first time in years. My friend G is in a league and he set up a friendly game between us. I think he got the impression that I was a novice, because I sort of downplayed how much I had played in the past (during the 2002-2003 school year I was playing at least twice a week against pretty good competition), not wanting to come off as cocky. I won both games we played fairly convincingly, and afterward he said to me, "Yeah, you're a class higher than me." I want to join his regular league, but it's status is in limbo at the moment, because the earthquake might have damaged some of the courts, and they have to get some sort of inspection before they can reopen them. I hope it happens and I can join. It's an LGB league, but G said there are a lot of straight people in it, and even if there aren't, I don't really care. Since I've been back in DC, my social scene has become pretty gay, anyway. I'm kinda jealous of the stereotypical gay lifestyle -- the partying, the friends, the promiscuity, the disposable income, the lack of familial responsibilities. I'd be lying if I said the gay life isn't enticing, oh, except the part about having sex with other men. That part I'm not such a fan of. In my opinion, it's really the only major downside to being gay.
Speaking of gay men, I'm embarrassed to admit it, but admit it I shall. I've gotten really into the show Project Runway this season. This is despite the fact that I don't care much for Heidi Klum. Few things are more annoying than hot people who never had to develop much of a personality or an intellect (because they're hot) thinking they are interesting and smart, because people want to be around them (because they're hot). Tyra Banks is the queen of this, but Heidi Klum isn't too far behind. ("In fashion, one day you're in, and the next day you're out," so profound Heidi, did you write that yourself?)
Anyway, I like to predict before the show who I think will be eliminated. I've been correct four of the last six weeks, and it should have been five. I can't believe they sent Bert home this week instead of Laura (my pick) -- total crock. Next week is the last elimination show, and I think Laura and Kimberly are going home. That means Joshua, Viktor, and Anya will go to fashion week. I'm predicting Anya will win. She can't sew very well -- which some of the other designers resent -- but if you can come up with cool looking outfits, who cares? It's a bit like resenting a rock star, because they can't play scales.
In other news, I've started following this Occupy Wall Street movement a bit. Nobody really knows where it will go, but who knows, maybe something cool will come out of it. At least people are pissed off and doing something, that's the first step. The thing I would like to see is a clear delineation of the type of wealth in the protesters' crosshairs. It should be avarice not affluence. If you target all rich people, I think you run into problems both practical and ideological.
Practically, I don't think the US will ever go for anything resembling a wide-scale distribution of wealth or a semi-socialistic society like, say, Denmark. Already you have the right accusing the protesters of "class warfare", you don't want this to resonate with people.
Ideologically, I'm a capitalist. I think many people earn their riches by working hard and providing benefits to society. Think doctors, think innovators, think people like the recently deceased Steve Jobs (think different). Many people are driven by economic incentives to do great things, and produce great products, and they elevate and employ others in the process. (As an aside, I don't think economic incentive is necessarily material incentive. I think many times money is more a marker of status or achievement than an actual medium for exchange. I believe it was The Donald who said (I'm paraphrasing), "I've never cared much for money, except as a way of keeping score.") These aren't the people protesters should be going after, these are the people we need in a great society. The type of people we don't need are the type who prey on ignorance and fear, who get rich through the unnecessary misfortune or suffering of others, who finagle the system, who buy politicians to set the rules to ensure they get rich no matter how incompetent or damaging to society they are, these are the people we don't need. Sadly, it's this latter type of rich who seem to be gaining traction in the US, and in my view, they should be the target not just of the protesters' rage, but of all our rage.
OK, well, ass burgers to racquetball to Project Runway to Occupy Wall Street, I think I hit on a diverse enough set of topics for this week. Until next time...
Completely changing topics, I played racquetball this week for the first time in years. My friend G is in a league and he set up a friendly game between us. I think he got the impression that I was a novice, because I sort of downplayed how much I had played in the past (during the 2002-2003 school year I was playing at least twice a week against pretty good competition), not wanting to come off as cocky. I won both games we played fairly convincingly, and afterward he said to me, "Yeah, you're a class higher than me." I want to join his regular league, but it's status is in limbo at the moment, because the earthquake might have damaged some of the courts, and they have to get some sort of inspection before they can reopen them. I hope it happens and I can join. It's an LGB league, but G said there are a lot of straight people in it, and even if there aren't, I don't really care. Since I've been back in DC, my social scene has become pretty gay, anyway. I'm kinda jealous of the stereotypical gay lifestyle -- the partying, the friends, the promiscuity, the disposable income, the lack of familial responsibilities. I'd be lying if I said the gay life isn't enticing, oh, except the part about having sex with other men. That part I'm not such a fan of. In my opinion, it's really the only major downside to being gay.
[It's not racquetball, but so be it. It's funny.]
Speaking of gay men, I'm embarrassed to admit it, but admit it I shall. I've gotten really into the show Project Runway this season. This is despite the fact that I don't care much for Heidi Klum. Few things are more annoying than hot people who never had to develop much of a personality or an intellect (because they're hot) thinking they are interesting and smart, because people want to be around them (because they're hot). Tyra Banks is the queen of this, but Heidi Klum isn't too far behind. ("In fashion, one day you're in, and the next day you're out," so profound Heidi, did you write that yourself?)
[What? It's a good show.]
Anyway, I like to predict before the show who I think will be eliminated. I've been correct four of the last six weeks, and it should have been five. I can't believe they sent Bert home this week instead of Laura (my pick) -- total crock. Next week is the last elimination show, and I think Laura and Kimberly are going home. That means Joshua, Viktor, and Anya will go to fashion week. I'm predicting Anya will win. She can't sew very well -- which some of the other designers resent -- but if you can come up with cool looking outfits, who cares? It's a bit like resenting a rock star, because they can't play scales.
In other news, I've started following this Occupy Wall Street movement a bit. Nobody really knows where it will go, but who knows, maybe something cool will come out of it. At least people are pissed off and doing something, that's the first step. The thing I would like to see is a clear delineation of the type of wealth in the protesters' crosshairs. It should be avarice not affluence. If you target all rich people, I think you run into problems both practical and ideological.
Practically, I don't think the US will ever go for anything resembling a wide-scale distribution of wealth or a semi-socialistic society like, say, Denmark. Already you have the right accusing the protesters of "class warfare", you don't want this to resonate with people.
Ideologically, I'm a capitalist. I think many people earn their riches by working hard and providing benefits to society. Think doctors, think innovators, think people like the recently deceased Steve Jobs (think different). Many people are driven by economic incentives to do great things, and produce great products, and they elevate and employ others in the process. (As an aside, I don't think economic incentive is necessarily material incentive. I think many times money is more a marker of status or achievement than an actual medium for exchange. I believe it was The Donald who said (I'm paraphrasing), "I've never cared much for money, except as a way of keeping score.") These aren't the people protesters should be going after, these are the people we need in a great society. The type of people we don't need are the type who prey on ignorance and fear, who get rich through the unnecessary misfortune or suffering of others, who finagle the system, who buy politicians to set the rules to ensure they get rich no matter how incompetent or damaging to society they are, these are the people we don't need. Sadly, it's this latter type of rich who seem to be gaining traction in the US, and in my view, they should be the target not just of the protesters' rage, but of all our rage.
OK, well, ass burgers to racquetball to Project Runway to Occupy Wall Street, I think I hit on a diverse enough set of topics for this week. Until next time...
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Entry 85: S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y NIGHT!
Now that I've lured you in with my exciting title, I'll reveal the truth. I'm not really even doing anything tonight. S is out of town for the next week, in Kenya, doing something for her new job. (I love how a sentence like that has become completely routine. That's what happens when your wife does international development for a living. You casually mention that she's in Africa.) I'm probably going to watch a little baseball with my friend RB, and then possibly get a drink later with my friend RT. So, I am doing something, but certainly nothing that warrants a title in capital letters with the word "Saturday" spelled out, like the Bay City Rollers' song. I just chose that title, because I wanted a reason to integrate a music clip into this post, but then I remembered that I don't really like that Bay City Rollers' song, so I'll give you this far superior Saturday-themed song instead.
It's a drizzly, dreary day here in DC. I tried to go running, but turned back when I realized it was much windier and wetter than it looked from inside. Instead, I did calisthenics in my apartment. Doing a few pushups and jumping jacks in a 3' x 3' square isn't really an adequate subsitute for a full on run, but it's better than nothing, and I did it while watching The Ultimate Fighter, so I was especially pumped up. I love it on that show when they do the pre-fight monologues with the fighters and some 23-year old dude is like, "I'm doing this for my little baby girl, Kaley. She's my inspiration, man. I fight for her, and I can tell you this, I will die before I lose this fight." And then the guy gets his ass kicked and taps out in the first round. It goes to show that people can say whatever they want about anything they want. Just saying something doesn't make it even remotely true.
This sounds obvious, but sometimes I wonder if people really get this. Look at our presidential candidates for 2012. In one party, we have the incumbent who many former supporters are down on, in no small part because they chose to believe his hope-and-change-yes-we-can rhetoric instead of actually looking at his record, and now they feel a bit duped. In the other party, we have a top primary contender saying the science is "not settled" on global warming, even though, according to a study referenced in the LA Times, 97%-98% of climate researchers think humans are causing climate change. (If 97 of 100 doctors told you you have cancer, are you getting treatment, or are you holding out until the "debate" is settled?)
And you have pols in both parties telling you that balancing the budget and cutting spending is the best path to economic recovery, when empirical evidence suggests this just isn't the case, and in fact cutting spending right now is probably one of the worst things we can do. (Read Paul Krugman for more details on this front.) Although, in defense of Barack Obama, he has started shifting his tone away from balancing the budget and toward combating unemployment. I actually came up with an analogy that I think Obama should use -- a heart attack. In 2008, our economy had a heart attack, and we're still in the midst of it. Republicans are insisting we combat our heart attack by eating better and exercising more (i.e., balancing the budget). Seemingly sound advice, except it's completely unhelpful and counterproductive, considering we're in a hospital bed right now holding on for dear life. We need somebody to rub those paddles together and shock us back to stability (i.e., stimulate the economy, create jobs, reduce unemployment). Once we return to a state somewhat resembling normalcy, then we can start the discussion on broccoli and jogging.
Speaking of broccoli and jogging, I've been trying to eat better and exercise more (which explains my attempt to run in this awful weather). I've noticed over the past few months a paunch slowly starting to form, and it's now protruding a little too far for my liking. It's weird because you can still see the outline of my ab muscles (back in my wrestling days I had a pretty nice washboard, unfortunately that was over 15 years ago!), but then they morph into a bit of a potbelly. I've got two cans of a six pack on top of a mini-keg. I'm like Robert Mitchum in "Out of Shape in Shape Guy from the 50's".
And on that note. Let's wrap this son of a gun up.
It's a drizzly, dreary day here in DC. I tried to go running, but turned back when I realized it was much windier and wetter than it looked from inside. Instead, I did calisthenics in my apartment. Doing a few pushups and jumping jacks in a 3' x 3' square isn't really an adequate subsitute for a full on run, but it's better than nothing, and I did it while watching The Ultimate Fighter, so I was especially pumped up. I love it on that show when they do the pre-fight monologues with the fighters and some 23-year old dude is like, "I'm doing this for my little baby girl, Kaley. She's my inspiration, man. I fight for her, and I can tell you this, I will die before I lose this fight." And then the guy gets his ass kicked and taps out in the first round. It goes to show that people can say whatever they want about anything they want. Just saying something doesn't make it even remotely true.
This sounds obvious, but sometimes I wonder if people really get this. Look at our presidential candidates for 2012. In one party, we have the incumbent who many former supporters are down on, in no small part because they chose to believe his hope-and-change-yes-we-can rhetoric instead of actually looking at his record, and now they feel a bit duped. In the other party, we have a top primary contender saying the science is "not settled" on global warming, even though, according to a study referenced in the LA Times, 97%-98% of climate researchers think humans are causing climate change. (If 97 of 100 doctors told you you have cancer, are you getting treatment, or are you holding out until the "debate" is settled?)
[This isn't my prediction for the 2012 race, by the way. I think it'll be Obama-Romney, which will give us the least difference between any two candidates in my lifetime. Seriously, the only major distinction is that Obama has to pander (slightly) to the left and Romney has to pander to the right. If these two guys woke up one morning and some sort of "Freaky Friday" thing happened, and Obama was now the republican and Romney was now the democrat, I think they would both just shrug their shoulders and go on with their days like nothing had ever happened.]
And you have pols in both parties telling you that balancing the budget and cutting spending is the best path to economic recovery, when empirical evidence suggests this just isn't the case, and in fact cutting spending right now is probably one of the worst things we can do. (Read Paul Krugman for more details on this front.) Although, in defense of Barack Obama, he has started shifting his tone away from balancing the budget and toward combating unemployment. I actually came up with an analogy that I think Obama should use -- a heart attack. In 2008, our economy had a heart attack, and we're still in the midst of it. Republicans are insisting we combat our heart attack by eating better and exercising more (i.e., balancing the budget). Seemingly sound advice, except it's completely unhelpful and counterproductive, considering we're in a hospital bed right now holding on for dear life. We need somebody to rub those paddles together and shock us back to stability (i.e., stimulate the economy, create jobs, reduce unemployment). Once we return to a state somewhat resembling normalcy, then we can start the discussion on broccoli and jogging.
Speaking of broccoli and jogging, I've been trying to eat better and exercise more (which explains my attempt to run in this awful weather). I've noticed over the past few months a paunch slowly starting to form, and it's now protruding a little too far for my liking. It's weird because you can still see the outline of my ab muscles (back in my wrestling days I had a pretty nice washboard, unfortunately that was over 15 years ago!), but then they morph into a bit of a potbelly. I've got two cans of a six pack on top of a mini-keg. I'm like Robert Mitchum in "Out of Shape in Shape Guy from the 50's".
And on that note. Let's wrap this son of a gun up.
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