Sunday, September 28, 2008

Writing Lessons.

Teacher. Wordsmith. Madman's swan song is here. Although you're never going to see new content there (although, never say never), you should still check out the archives for the prose and the passion, because it will likely never be matched. You're likely to discover why I named my link on the right "writing lessons."

Here's to Chad, the best writer I know. Now that TWM is off your plate, I expect to see your version of Sin and Syntax forthcoming!

Saturday, September 20, 2008

The Blame Game.

The market is in the dumper. Who or what is to blame?

Unrealistic assessments of risk, period. Taking super-risky loans, bundling them up into AAA-rated securities, and tossing them around until they start to default, which ripples through everyone that had a hand in them (which is almost every bank).

I'm so sick of the political banter. Bush made a brief statement a couple days ago to try to instill some calm. From Nancy Pelosi: "...(he) said very little...what was expected was an explanation to the American people of what is happening, because it has a direct impact on our lives."

It's not as if Bush could actually sit there for hours and explain crazy-ass complex financial theory; as if more than 1% of the American public would have a chance in hell of understanding one iota of what he told them - hell, even the politicians don't really understand what's going on. McCain in speeches says "we need to reform, er, coughcreditdefaultswapscoughcough, excuse me..."

So I reiterate: incredibly aggressive strategies were labeled with incredibly unrealistic assessments of how risky they were, which cascaded through the financial markets and is now taking a dump on all of us. This all goes full-circle back to my general theory on housing that having a house is a privilege, not a right.

The bad news is now the government is going to probably over-regulate going forward which will hurt the country from a competitive standpoint. What a mess!

Monday, September 15, 2008

Misc.

-Who cares how many houses John and Cindy McCain have? Attention idiots: politicians, by and large, are rich. Obama might not have as many houses, but he also didn't marry a wealthy heiress. Why don't people ever talk to the candidates about issues instead of picking apart their personal lives?

-USC fans are incredibly douchey. I witnessed the massive drubbing that was USC vs. OSU this past weekend, which mind you wasn't even enjoyable because it was such a beat-down, and noticed toward the end of the game that half the USC fans had left. They left a massive drubbing of a huge top-5 rival. That absolutely blows my mind - no, I'm lying, it doesn't blow my mind because I've come to expect it from USC fans, since they are douchebags.

-Yes, I'm sure there are many good USC fans, but come on. Half-empty?!

-Metallica: YES, YES, YES. Death Magnetic is so good I wanted to shed tears of joy when I gave it my inaugural listen. Yes, I was jaded too and thought St. Anger was pretty bad. Don't let your hate for Metallica's last few albums and refusal to believe that anything can touch "the trilogy" get in the way. Go buy it and enjoy.

-Hurricane Ike ended up being pretty weak up here in DFW. Everyone I know in Houston is okay but many are without power. To those that remained in Galveston despite "imminent death" warnings, yet still called 911 asking for help after the fact: you are even lamer than USC fans.

Monday, September 08, 2008

Misc.

-I don't comment much on politics mainly because I am not a fan of either side and I'd rather have the option of voting for Great Candidate A or Wonderful Candidate B as opposed to the "douchebag or the turd sandwich." I'm looking forward to the debates, though, to reveal more about each candidate in terms of how they plan to structure their policies and how they react to some (hopefully) tough questions.

-I'm being banished to "the tundra," apparently. Monika and I went out to Gallery Night in Fort Worth with friends and drunken hilarity revealed that since I didn't know how to skin a bear, I need to be banished to the tundra of the Artic Circle to become one with nature.

-Seen on Gallery night: a series of paintings where an ostrich had it's head stuck in golf holes, and bubbles above the head revealed...ostriches thinking about other golf holes. Seriously!

-Today I showed up to jury duty for the first time in my life. Yes, it was the first time I was summoned, people! Countless hours later I was not selected for a jury on a DWI case. I think the "engineer" thing did me in. The defense seemed to want people that thought that a field sobriety test could easily be failed due to the massive pressure of nerves, wind, or a temporary fluctuation in the earth's gravitational field.

-The new Toadies album is good, but not great, but they tend to grow on me more over time. The new Slipknot is excellent if you are a death-metal kind of guy. But not if you're too much of a death-metal kind of guy because then you'll think they went too soft.