I might be a little old

I might be getting old, or at least too interested in the economy. I heard the Fed cut the federal funds rate a half percent, and all I could think was "What's this mean for inflation?"

Elmo's Fire

I shouldn't be surprised

Bush commutes Libby's jail time.

President's statement

Article about it

Things to learn before going to a foreign country

I just got back from Austria, and while on the trip I figured out that I didn't prepare enough. There are a few things I think I should have learned before I went to a country where I don't speak the native language. (Although, Austrians spoke great English in a commercial setting. Gas station employees switched to English easily, as did servers at restaurants.)

How to say:

• Excuse me
• Sorry
• Do you speak English?
• I don't speak X
• Please, thank you
• May I have a ?
• Do you have a menu in English?
  

What the road signs look like. For example, European road signs are different from American ones. Who knew this meant "no bikes" as opposed to "caution, bikes"?

Helen giggled whenever I tried to speak German.

Bad news, good news

Bad news: the USPS is raising stamp rates to $0.41 per stamp on May 14.

Good news: the USPS is offering a new "forever stamp" that can always be used to mail a first class letter, no matter how much stamp rates go up. (You can't put it on a package and expect it to be worth the current first class stamp rate, but I never have tried that.)

It makes a ton of sense to introduce "forever stamps", assuming that first class stamps rise with inflation - I use maybe 50 stamps a year, and they raised rates this time 15 months apart. I could never go through a roll of stamps in between fair increases.

I lost my temper

Today, I biked to work. I was in the bike lane, all the way to the right. A Prius driver was on my left, with her right blinker on. Well, when the light turned green, she tried to get ahead of me and make the right in front of me.

From talking to other guys to bike to work, I'm not the only one who is sometimes cut off by a recently passing car. (It happens every once in a while to all of us it seems)

Bikers aren't nearly as slow as drivers seem to think they are. Or cars aren't as fast as their drivers think. Either way!

Hint

I have a new favorite drink. The Company recently added a new bottled water, and I adore it. It's called Hint. I drink about 6 bottles of Hint a day at work. It's lightly flavored water with 0 calories - it's so lightly flavored that I feel like I'm drinking water, but it's flavored enough that I don't feel bored like I do chugging water all day long.

If you want to lose weight

If you want to lose weight, you might want to stop looking at the prices at the grocery store.

Breaking news

Virginia Tech Shooting Kills at Least 22.

Why Snapfish is the worst site ever

Snapfish has earned some wrath today: they force you to log into see a photo album and they charge you to download the originals. They charge me to download the images my mom took.

Flying flying flying

I fly about 50,000 miles per year. Assuming that's split into 10 round trips, with non flying time of 4 hours per trip (layovers and getting to the airport early), and an aircraft speed of 500 miles per hour, that's about 140 hours per year of travel. 1.6% of my year.

Boooo Dollar

Dollar rental charges $25/day if you're under 25, as opposed to the $15 that other companies charge.

I tried to rent a Charger and they gave me a Grand Marquis. Lame.

Bob Marley went forth

Bob Marley went forth and multiplied.

My favorite thing? 3 kids born in one month:

Stephen, born April 20, 1972, to Rita
Robert "Robbie", born May 16, 1972, to Pat Williams
Rohan, born May 19, 1972, to Janet Hunt

Google Maps is still the best

New York, NY to Dublin, Ireland

That's right, no flying for you

At least they were honest (and spell well)

From: "Parr, Kelli"
To: Matt
Date: Wed, 28 Mar 2007 07:21:16 -0500
Subject: Fraudulent Spam.

Dear Homeowner,

You have been pre-approved for a $438 ,000 'refinance' Loan at a 3.23 % Fixed Rate.

This offer is being extended to you unconditionally and your credit is in no way a factor.

To take Advantage of this Limited Time opportunity all we ask is that you visit our Website and complete the 1 minute post Approval Form.

http://refinance_approval.saveloan005.com

Sincerely,

Sincerely yours,
Brett Abraham

NovaForm + Roomba?

When I crawled into bed last night, I felt a little congested. But I hadn't felt congested before. So I decided I should change my sheets and probably vacuum my bed.

Lo and behold, my Roomba does not like to work on my NovaForm mattress. The Roomba's cleaning rotors suck the mattress cover in, and the Roomba can't go anywhere. Maybe I'll have to do this the old fashioned way...

New favorite site!

Thanks to Fark, I've found my new favorite site. hockeyfights.com.

Goalie fights are beautiful! And this fight last night between Buffalo and Ottowa is fun.

Fat fingers forge fear

Every time I mistype my password at work I get:

Username or password not recognized.

and I worry I've been fired and that I haven't been told. :'(

Tragedy of the Commons

The Tragedy of the Commons. I think reading an essay on this should be in every high school English class.

Colbert + O'Relly

Colbert on The O'Reilly Factor


O'Reilly on the Colbert Report


Remarks:
O'Reilly likes to yell, and Colbert didn't rise to it, although O'Reilly was baiting him.
Colbert was so patronizing that O'Reilly couldn't find anything to yell and get angry about.
Seeing O'Reilly on the Colbert Report was kind of anticlimactic.