I got my mind on my money; money on my mind.

My day was brightened by 100 times today when I received a call from Nimit Pathak regarding a CNN article. Basically, the man who invented the Segway Scooter, may have found a way to provide affordable, clean, drinking water to the world's poor. This invention could be as big as the printing press, or automobile:

http://money.cnn.com/2006/02/16/technology/business2_futureboy0216/index.htm

1. As most of you know I am a huge Weezer fan. I have heard some of the new material for album six and it sounds really good. Rivers Cuomo, their lead singer, is usually very shy and stays away from the media at all costs. So what is this, "Help me write a sawng!" all about?!
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/page/news/49506-help-rivers-cuomo-write-a-new-sawng

2. In another sign of America's economic recession, Ford Motor Co. just sold the rights to Jaguar, and Land Rover to the Indian motor company, Tata Motors Ltd. The only problem... they sold the rights for less then half of what they paid for them.

3. I decided to figure out exactly how much money I have saved by living with my parents and I invested it into Apple Computers. I need all of you to go out and buy a new iPod and iPhone whenever you have a second.

4. I was watching CBS News this Sunday morning and I heard a report, "Barack Obama fights his 'liberal' label". It really bothers me that every Republican proudly claims how conservative they are. During one of their big debates, they also acted like clowns interrupting each other by proclaiming they are the only true conservative. Why is it that both Hillary Clinton and Barck Obama are so afraid of being called liberals? I have news for them... They are liberals! They are in fact two of the most liberal members of the senate. And guess what? I see nothing wrong with that in the same way with I see nothing wrong with someone being a conservative. We are who we are. It is what it is. Let's not run from who we are.

Giant $100 bills and $2 martinis

I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend. I had a really fun weekend. I always love having guests come over for the weekend and this was no exception. This weekend, I had two friends, Anay and Josh, make the epic trek from Chicago, Illinois to Minneapolis, MN for a couple of days before heading back to ISU. There was a lot of basketball watched on TV, a lot of pool played in the basement, and possibly a bit of adult beverages were consumed.

1. The highlight of the weekend was Saturday night. We started out by meeting up with four other friends at a swanky little bar called The Lounge. After that, we went over to Bar 508. At approximately midnight Saturday night, a portly man began dancing with an attractive and inebriated little blond girl. After a while he pulled out a giant $100 bill and basically started dancing with the dollar bill. We already were laughing our asses off and then he pulls out a second one. I know this a story you had to be there for, but take our word for it, it was one of the highlights of 2008.

2. Another weekend of gorging took place. Saturday night, we ate at Chino Latino. My food was fantastic! I had some of the best sushi in my life and all of the other dishes were great as well. On Sunday during the day, my family and I ate at the Nicolet Island Inn. WOW!! The NCI is kind of an old-fashion supper club of sorts with amazing views of the Mississippi River and really great food. I'm still full.

3. What really is the purpose of the cold. I had not been sick all year and now I am on the final stages of a cold. It is very irritating. The skin around my nose is bright red, and my throat is sore. Boo.

4. It is rare that I like any music that has been made after 1975 but I really like this new woman singer Ingrid Michaelson. Her song "Men of Snow" is so beautiful. It touches me, inspires me, and motivates me. I like that I have so many friends who enjoy music also. There is so much more to the world then MIMS, Flo Rider, and T-pain.

5. I just found out I have to leave on Sunday for another trip to Grand Forks. It is not fun to work on Sundays!

March Madness

Today I wish a happy Palm Sunday and I hope you and your loved ones have had a great weekend. My subject title of March Madness is a reflection of some of the greatest sports weeks of the year. Great pro basketball and terrific college basketball are played in short few weeks in March known as The Dance. Even though my beloved Cyclones will not be dancing, it will be fun to watch the round of 65, the mystery of the elite 8, the drama of the sweet 16, and finally, it will be fun to see the joys of victory as the victors jubilantly cut down the nets and hang up their championship banner. The Cyclones last made the final four in 1934. 2009, Hilton Coliseum... It's time.

1. I am currently reading a book called BOOM by Tom Brokaw. It talks about his experiences growing in the sixties. As most of you know, I am absolutely obsessed with everything that happened in the 1960s and I wish I could have lived through it. Reading this book and seeing the movie, Across the Universe, really made me think about how fascinating it would have been to be 22 and the year be 1968 instead of 2008. Here is what would be happening: The Vietnam would be at its apex, the cold war against USSR and Cuba was alive, scary, and very real. I would still be mourning the losses of Bobby Kennedy, Dr. King, JFK, and others. There would be incredible music with groups like The Rolling Stones, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Beatles, Hendrix, Joplin, Mamas and the Papas, The Who, Simon and Garfunkel, et cetera all in their hey day. The Grammy for best song was Mrs. Robinson by Simon and Garfunkel and the Oscar for best movie would go to The Graduate. Our minds would be active with the struggles of the civil rights, great debates would be happening at liberal arts colleges and dinner tables in suburban America about women's rights. Enormous changes in fashion, attitude, and lifestyles would be reshaping the world's futures. There would be a draft that would require many of us to serve our country in Vietnam. As sad as this makes me, I realize that I have been blessed enough financially that I could have obtained a college deferment. (Meaning as long as I stayed in school, I would not have to go to war.) I am not saying there is not fascinating stuff going on right now but it is completely different. To be 22 in 1968 would have been so fascinating!

2. Despite me being almost entirely liberal, I am not anti-capitalism. However, what is going on with health care and medicine is beyond ridiculous. I have blogged before about how we should have universal health care and here is another reason. Right now the American Medical Association has put a very tight cap on the amount of doctors, nurses, and pharmacists that are allowed to graduate from our universities. Why? Because the AMA is greedy and the smaller amount of doctors out there means there is a classic example of supply and demand economics. Fewer doctors = higher pay for the existing doctors. One criticism of universal health care is that it would take too long to see a doctor due to huge waits. I discovered a small spot on my leg that looks like someone took a cigar and put it on my leg. I called my doctor's office and said I would like this checked out, and I was told the wait was TWO MONTHS!!! But if it was an emergency I should go to Urgent Care. This made me really mad. This is why I pay over a thousand dollars a year for health care? The American Medical Association is greed at its worst! There is a huge shortage of qualified doctors, nurses, and pharmacists out there right now.

3. What did you all do to celebrate the five year reunion of the Iraq war starting?

4. If anybody thoughts that China would improve their position on Tibet with the 2008 Olympics we were all disappointed to learn that the Chinese government murdered seven dozen demonstrators this past weekend for the audacity of suggesting the Tibetan people should have some basic human rights. China needs a lot of help.

Because the world is round it turns me on

I hope everybody had a great weekend. If I were to sum up my weekend in one word I would say it would be -- fun. I went dancing, tried out a new bar, saw some movies, took a few naps, and all in all it was a very relaxing, but fun weekend. My parents are currently in Las Vegas so I have enjoyed the place to myself. Unfortunately, I leave for five days in North Dakota tomorrow. At least the weather is supposed to be better.

1. I saw two movies this weekend. The first movie I saw is called The Brave One. It stars Jodie Foster as a quasi-vigilante. I really enjoyed this movie and I would probably give it a B+/A-. I was entertained and left very satisfied. Unfortunately, I was very dissapointed by 3:10 to Yuma. Maybe because many of my friends built it up, or maybe because it had so many big stars, I'm not quite sure. The movie dragged on forever, was totally unbelievable, and ridiculously violent. I'm a guy. I love a good fight scene just like any other dude. However, I can only take so many gun shots to the face before I get bored. A note to directors. Violence in movies doesn't shock me anymore. In fact, I think if movies have to be overly violent, it has to make up for something else... Perhaps good writing?

2. As most of you know, I am utterly bored with any music made after 2004 (with many notable exceptions) and I have been listening to quite a bit of classical music. While watching Bad Santa this morning as I was napping, I noticed the beginning had this gorgeous music in the background. After some searching, I discovered it is Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2 by Chopin. Please discover it for yourself and tell me if you disagree on its beauty:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvxS_bJ0yOU

3. What a surprise! I am upset with something that Emperor George W. Bush has done. The cover of today's Star Tribune says, "President vetoes bill limiting CIA tactics". Without you reading the whole article, basically the first paragraph sums it up. Bush said Saturday that he has vetoed legislation meant to ban the CIA from using waterboarding and other harsh interrogation tactics because it "would take away one ofthe most valuable tools on the war on terror."

Harsh Tactics = Torture

Without getting into a morality debate, the merits of the effectiveness of torture, or what the bible would feel, to be honest, I am most concerned about what effect this will have on our courageous men and women currently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. If, heaven forbid, they get captured, what is to stop them from using similar "harsh tactics" on us? Nothing. The world views us as the police officers of the world. It is a fine line between being a good samaritan officer and a pig with a badge. I see once again we have crossed that line. I never imagined that one day we would have a president who would endorse torture.

4. My credit card bill I just paid was for $778.58!!!! After this weekend, I am scaling back on the going out to eat and going to the bars while my card simmers down. I paid it in full but I am looking for people who are interested more along the lines of renting a movie and eating at Taco Bell for a few weeks.

a sad day for the Democratic party

Normally I try to come up with some witty title for my posts. Today, I am in no such mood. I have received several phone calls asking about my thoughts on yesterday's primaries and caucuses and I have many thoughts. This blog is meant as a forum for discussion so please post comments if anything I say you agree, disagree, or find interesting.

Why did Hillary Clinton win Texas and Ohio yesterday? I have been pouring over exit polls, newspaper columnists, MSNBC, and other sources hoping desperately to find out what happened. If I may have a few minutes of your time, I may have something here...

1. Hillary Clinton continues her amazing run with the Latino vote. I have never quite understood this because on social issues, she and Obama have very similar, liberal, views. However, both John McCain and Hillary Clinton have quite liberal views on immigration while Obama leans moderate. Yesterday, in Texas and Ohio, Hispanic voters voted for Clinton by a 2 - 1 majority. In politics, to win any group 67% - 33% is downright amazing!

2. Obama continues to do well with young people (or those voters 30 or younger.) He took 61% of their vote last night. However, only 16% of the voters yesterday were 30 or younger. While, 67% of the voters yesterday were 50 years old or older. Of that group, 64% voted for Hillary. As much as I hate to admit it, young people are just not a very active voting block. They don't donate very much money and they rarely come out to vote. Candidates who have relied heavily on the youth vote tend to crash and crash hard.

3. The most interesting exit poll result I found was when asked in exit polls, if you decided on a candidate in the past three days, between Obama and Clinton, Clinton had 64% and Obama had 36%. Unfortunately, this has not happened because Clinton's popularity has soared. After attacks from Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and John McCain, Obama's approval rating is dipping more and more every day. This could not be a better scenario for McCain. While he is being Mr. Positivity and going to fund raiser after fund raiser, he is letting Obama and Clinton go after each other so that once one of the two is nominated, they will be badly bruised, broke, and with their approval ratings lower then Bush's.

4. What are we going to do about Michigan and Florida? The national Democratic Party is punishing those states for moving their primaries up too early and they have been stripped of all their delegates. However, with the race being this close, this has really angered Democrats and Independents in those two states. This does not mean that they will all of sudden become huge McCain supporters, but what it means is they are not going to donate any money to the Democrats.

5. The X factor in all of this is how many Republicans voted for Hillary. I know for a fact that Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, and other prominent conservative leaders know darn well that a prolonged Democratic race is good for McCain so they asked their supporters to all go out and vote for Hillary. We will never know how much of an X factor this actually was but I have to think it was something.

Television: A medium - so called because it is neither rare nor well done.

The title of this posting is Television. I will highlight today some aspects of the future of television and problems I have. First off, there are several pretty interesting things about TV/movies that have me excited.

1. Isn't it about time that Adam Sandler made a funny movie. I feel he had two really good movies in Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore, and some quasi funny movies in Mr. Deeds, the Waterboy, but he has had some really terrible movies come out in the past five years. (i.e. I now pronounce you Chuck and Larry.) I just saw a preview for his new movie and even the preview made me laugh several times. http://www.imdb.com/video/trailer/me700726451/

2. As many of you know, I think one of the wittiest shows on television is Family Guy. One of the funniest "cast members" on the show is Cleveland Brown. I was really happy to read that there will be a Family Guy spin-off called, "Cleveland". You can read about it here: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3ibde8ca74de470b93d12371ef61c0ef91

3. I was dissapointed to read that the critics did not like Will Ferrell's new movie, Semi Pro. I am a huge Will Ferrell fan and I think he was the funniest SNL cast member in their 30 year history. However, I think Ferrell struggles when he is primarily the only star in the movie. I think his funniest roles are when he shares the spotlight with others or when he does cameos. His cameos in Wedding Crashers, Zoolander, the Ladies Man, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Old School, and other really make him the funniest man in America. To me where he struggles is where he is purely the star (Semi Pro, Talladega nights, et cetera.) However, he is in a new movie called Step Brothers with John C. Reilly and it looks really funny. Here is the preview: http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809931500/video/6672254/;_ylt=Alz4QNzlvJjQ270m9FBmA35fVXcA. I actually enjoy Will Ferrell when he breaks out of the Anchorman, Talladega nights, Semi-Pro role. You know, the quasi perverted, egotistical "ladies man". I thought he was terrific in Stranger then Fiction. If any of you are looking for a good movie to rent, Stranger then Fiction gets the cyclonejohn seal of approval.

4. When I was 12, 13, 14, I used to love watching VH1 and MTV. I tried to watch some of those networks and not only were most of the shows boring, I found most of the shows to be downright offensive and stupid. Jackass isn't funny to me anymore and VH1 has such shows as Rock of Love with Bret Michaels which are downright demeaning to women. The only show on VH1 which is even watchable is Best Week Ever.

5. I am really excited for the Writer's strike to end. My Thursday nights still feel a little empty without The Office.

fluffy cloads, duckies, and bunnies

Today is March 1st which I equate with the unofficial first day of spring. Yes, I know it is cold and windy outside, but to me, it's Spring. Pretty soon there will be frisbees being thrown, golf clubs being washed, the sound of motorcycles, and me deciding when is the best time to ask Mike to put some suntan lotion on my back.

1. While reading the Star Tribune this morning, I found it interesting that they are speculating that SNL alum Jimmy Fallon is the most likely person to take over for Conan O'Brien in 2009 when he moves to Burbank, California to take over from Jay Leno.

2. Two days ago, I got a notice in the mail about Jefferson High School was having a five year reunion in a few months for the class of 2003. I almost fell over. I can't believe it has been almost five years since I graduated high school. There was a Facebook club that was established also about the reunion. I looked and I saw that as of today, about 70 people have confirmed that they are going. Of the 70 people, I really have no interest in seeing 95% of them. And any casual interest I have in their lives is satiated by Facebook. However, after an interesting conversation with Cool Tieds, I may go for one reason. I want to see if some people have changed for the better. Those few idiots in high school who enjoyed humiliating and putting down others... Have they changed? It might be peaceful for me to see if they have changed for the better. Plus, if it sucks, I can just leave. I don't have to decide for like two months but I will keep you in the loop.

3. With the recent gas tax increase, the state of Minnesota is now the seventh most taxed state in the country and every year it seems to inch closer to such states as Mass., Illinois, New York, and others who have long claimed the prize as most taxed in the country. The good thing about the gas tax is it is mandated that all income from the gas tax must go to repairing building bridges and roads. Obviously, it would be incredibly sad if the 35W bridge collapsed but we didn't have enough money to repair the other decaying bridges. I am just sad it has to come through the gas tax. This affects everybody. It affects the poor of course since they often drive the same or more as the rich. But, it also affects the rich. For instance, USA Today has to pay a lot of money in gas reimbursment to all of its newspaper carriers. Every business uses gasoline in some way and will be affected by an increase in a gas tax. However, I understand that we cannot have another bridge collapse because we as a state are too cheap.