Archive for November, 2006
November 17, 2006 at 2:19 pm · Filed under Lifestyle
Ok, so the morning comes and goes, and I’m still in my pajamas. By now, I’ve eaten a half bowl of cereal, finished my cup of tea, and taken a vitamin. Maybe I’ll have watered the plants. If I decide to do anything, which requires me to leave the apartment, the great debate always comes up during the early afternoon.
The one major factor I take into consideration is the weather. If It’s raining outside, “No Deal!” There have been days when it was sprinkling, and I thought, “Man up! A little rain isn’t going to hurt you.” However, this is false! When there is rain, there is wind. And when you’re in Chicago, you need to multiply that by 2. When you’re riding a bike, it’s more like 3. So, you have tiny droplets of water pelting you with ferocity. It stings! My glasses get wet, my brakes squeak, and it’s not worth it.
The two semi-routine outings I have are a). bike to the lake or b). bike to the grocery store. At least once a week, I have to get more rice milk. I could go to Jewel-Osco (like a Schnucks) and pay $4 for a half gallon or go out of my way to Trader Joes or Whole Foods and pay the everyday price of $3. Jewel gets my regular business for food, but I go the extra miles for rice milk. Out of these two, I prefer to take my business to Trader Joes. I enjoy their friendly atmosphere and little store status to Whole Foods. If I worked, I could imagine myself as … a Trader Joe.
If else, then I peddle to the lake. I think Ceej measured it as 3.5 miles from my apartment. I can take designated bike paths on the major streets. It seems like a dangerous stretch, but I find that most cars are pretty good about giving me room. The few death defying run-ins have always been with buses. What’s their deal? At the lake, I can go North to Navy Pier or South to 35th St. I like going South a lot better, because there are less runners/bikers and fewer tourists. Sometimes I’ll go North and hit the downtown Whole Foods store for rice milk.
If not b nor a, then I stay home, and my jammy jams have lived to see a couple more hours of wear. This is the typical scenario, especially now that the weather is turning bitter cold and the snow will soon be upon us. Seriously, the wind was howling last night and forecasters said the wind gusts would be 28-40 mph all day. No, thank you. I’ll read more news articles. Hopefully, one of my shows will have successfully downloaded and I’ll watch that. Normally, I’ll listen or watch the tech shows in the afternoon. For lunch, I’ll have a creamy peanut butter or deli sandwich. If I have no bread, it’s time for ramen. I might have another cup of tea to resist the urge of an afternoon siesta. The market closes at 3PM. The opening and closing half hour are always the busiest with respect to volatility. And that’s my afternoon.
November 15, 2006 at 11:04 am · Filed under Lifestyle
I get this question a lot from friends, family, and people I meet, and I draw a blank. I think it catches me off guard every time, because I then have to ask myself the same thing. “What do I do with my time?” I dont know how to answer with anything besides “nothing.” However, all of nothing is something, and I’ll now attempt to describe a typical one of my days. WARNING: Prepare to be bored.
I usually wake up around 7:30AM, because that’s where I set my alarm clock for the week days. I think it’s a waste of time and unproductive (irony) to sleep through the morning. The business day starts everyday in the morning and one needs to take advantage of it, if need be. If you sleep until the afternoon, half the day is over and night comes earlier and earlier in the winter.
I, then, head to my computer. Time is kilobytes, so I search for updates and downloads. I have a list of my favorite podcasts and videos that I watch: TWiT, DL.TV, and TV shows. Since, I dont have cable I try to download the shows that I’ve missed, or even the network shows that I miss. (because I cant watch Survivor and The Office/My Name is Earl at the same time.) The implementation of RSS feeds makes this a snap, and takes all of 5 minutes to start. Then, I usually need to prepare my morning cup of tea. Brew Brew! I come back to the computer and look through the news. I look for any worldly news on the BBC or Reuters. Then, I go to Digg. I spend a lot time sifting through digg headlines and bookmark anything digg worthy.
When 8:30 rolls around, I like to check how the market opens and check throughout the day. I want to see if I’ll be losing money for the day or making some back. I also look for any discounted stocks. The market seems to be in a buying frenzy and I dont understand it. I guess I’m just a Bear. The Dow Jones is breaking records while the economy is slowing, we’re in the middle of a war, and we have an unpopular President. I dont get it. Many energy companies like Exxon Mobile are making new highs and oil isn’t even priced at $78 a barrel like it was this summer. Black Friday and the holiday buying season is approaching, but is that really enough. I’m skeptical and now hesitant at the direction. But, what do I know compared to these high payed PHD’s, banks, hedge funds, and market makers?
I’ll end it here and scrape up some more for later.
November 10, 2006 at 12:04 am · Filed under Lifestyle
It’s my roommate’s birthday tomorrow and he’s already left to go home. I didn’t get or plan on getting him a present, so I suppose it doesn’t matter. He, however, did leave a ton of leftover Hooters buffalo wings in the fridge. One of his bosses must have taken him out to dinner. I already ate a couple and man do they taste terrible from the microwave. Crispy chicken is tasty, but not after the skin gets all soggy and warm. I’ll try to bake the rest of them. He also didn’t bring back any ranch dressing…Terrible…
Speaking of terrible, I need to give a shout out to the Harold Washington Library. This is the second time I’ve returned a book and they failed to take it off my account. They said, “You haven’t returned book ‘XYZ’ and have a fine.” I told them, “No, I checked out two books the last time I was here, and I returned them together.” “When did you return them?” “I dont know the exact date, but you obviously recorded one book and not the other.” Anyways, I went back to the section and found book ‘XYZ’ sitting on the bookshelf. I brought it down for the lovely woman to see. She took it off my account and apologized. But, she can stick her sorries in a sack. I want someone educated in the task of hovering a barcode over the laser to do their job right.
Serenity Now!…
November 9, 2006 at 11:57 pm · Filed under Books
I haven’t read a book from front to back in awhile. It looks like The Sirens of Titan was my last read. In the wake of reading Harry Potter articles, I’m now re-reading through the Order of the Phoenix. I should really skip to the end, since that’s the only part that matters, but what the heck. Book 7 wont be out for another year. Since most of it is still fresh, I’m jogging through it fairly rapidly. I’ve checked out the Half Blood Prince from the library to keep the flow going.
And while in Borders, I noticed Bringing Down the House and started reading through it, too. I’ve heard many of my buddies, who play poker, talking about it, and it sounded intriguing. Essentially, some MIT students perfect the art of card counting and take the Casinos and Vegas for millions. They have some good times, create fake identities, get asked to leave a few Casinos, and train others to take their places. It’s nice to hear about people gaming a system that’s meant for people to lose.
November 4, 2006 at 2:06 pm · Filed under Books, Food
Clear got me back into my Harry Potter addiction. She first sent me a link to the “Egypt Connection.” I read that last night, and then I couldn’t get that blasted boy Wizard off my mind. I read a couple more articles about Griffindor and Lily Evans Potter. Next, I went to Wikipedia and read the entry on the Half Blood Prince. I read the book when it came out last year, but this was a good refresher on the events. The topics of the horcruxes and Voldemort lineage struck my fancy, but then I couldn’t remember the reason Harry and Dumbledore went into that confounded cave to find something. It was to find a locket which had already been pilfered by someone else with the initials R.A.B. So, then I read the conspiracy theories of whom this person might be. The person appears to be Regulus Arcturus Black, Sirius’s younger brother. I believe this to be legitimate due to a JKR interview explaining that no new characters will be introduced in the next book, and the surname of ‘Black’ has been changed in translations. (The Dutch word for ‘Black’ is Zwarts, and in that edition the abbreviation is R.A.Z.) Then, some people found evidence of the “mystery locket” making a cameo in previous books and whom might be the new owner of said locket. I guess I’ll be rereading these books again sooner than later.
My second addiction to resurface is Doritoes. Yes, Doritoes. My name is Kimmers, and I’m a Dorito-holic. Overall, I have a general chip addiction, but with Doritoes it’s much more dangerous. A long time ago, I realized this problem, because of the unhealthiness of them and the fact that I can eat an entire bag in one day. Well, recently the grocery store had an unbelievable sale that I couldn’t pass up, (1.50 each or buy one get one free) That drew out the saver in me. It seemed like such a good bargain. That and they have so many flavors now a days. It used to be strictly cool ranch and nacho cheese. Now, I cant even list how many flavors they have. I just had to try them. The last bag I ate, I’m ashamed to say that I did eat in a 24 hour period. Terrible… I still have a bag in my house, but I need a Doritoes patch or interventon. I’m just too weak!
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