Blog? What Blog?

I happened upon this picture and found it both interesting and slightly disturbing:


It's a Zedonk (a donkey and zebra hybrid). This brings up a couple questions. First, who came up with that name? It sounds like something Phil Hellmuth would call somebody at the poker table ("That frickin' Zedonk called me with nothing but an inside straight draw and hit it!"). I guess Donkbra isn't any better (sounds like a retarded cobra), but how about Zebkey? Second, why is it only the legs that are striped? I know that it's different because we're dealing with two different species here, but can you imagine if this is what happened when people of different races had kids?

In another amusing but equally trivial matter, I was browsing on Amazon the other day and thinking of picking up the DVD of the Hawks season that just came out. I was scrolling down to look at reviews of it and noticed the section where Amazon lists what people who viewed this page ultimately buy. This is what it said:

"Hmm, I want to see dudes in suits fighting but I'm not sure if I feel like watching it on ice or not". Or maybe this is person who is both a huge Hawks and Robert Downey Jr. fan but is on a very limited budget. This is kind of like shopping for a new car and having it narrowed down to a Honda Fit or a Nissan Murano.

Lastly John Delaney, Financial Advisor to the Stars, is recommending that if you are just interested in making money (and don't really have a lot of moral qualms about it) you should buy BP stock. As of this morning it's trading at just under $38/share. It's not quite as good of a deal as it was last month when it was trading at its low of $26, but back then there were serious questions about whether or not it would even be able to survive. But now that the leak has stopped (presumably) and the relief well is nearing completion, combined with the fact that BP is very profitable in just about every other aspect of their business it makes them a good buy. I think within 6 months they'll be trading at least at $45/share and within 2 years they'll be up at $60 (where Exxon is right now). That's about a 25% annual return, not including any dividends that get paid in the interim. The world is certainly not going to need any less oil between now and then, and even if the U.S. market is able to hold a grudge for that long (which I doubt) our market is no longer the giant it once was in the global oil market.

And one final point, which I'll just touch on briefly. The thing that has bothered me the most about this spill is the fact that it has only resulted in finger-pointing and just general BP, Halliburton, and Federal Government bashing. I hoped that this event would become a catalyst for the U.S. to finally take the development of a comprehensive energy policy seriously. We put a moratorium on off-shore drilling but don't even pay lip-service to the fact that we still need the same amount (actually, an increasing amount) of oil, so where are we going to get it from? All the foreign sources that we supposedly want to get away from relying on. Somewhere along the way we need to have an honest discussion about this where we lay out exactly what our energy needs are projected to be for the next 25 years and where we plan to get the resources for it. But the left is too busy with their own fights on immigration and financial reform and the right is trying to distance themselves from "drill baby drill" and want to concentrate instead on the incompetence of the Federal Government. So instead of a good debate we get silence, which (apart from individual politicians giving blustery speeches) has pretty much been our official energy policy for the last 50 years.

It's been a fairly exhausting couple of weeks and (as perhaps evidenced by my last post) I've gone a bit nutty. I now start every morning with a 1.25 mile walk to the Naperville train station and then have another 1.25 mile walk to work once I get into Chicago. Then I get to do it all in reverse at 5:00. I like that I now have some level of forced exercise but my body is not yet used to walking 5 miles a day. Also doesn't make it any easier that it's been 90 the last couple days. There are some bus options both in Naperville and (obviously) in the Loop, but I'm going to try and save those for when it's -20 with a foot of snow on the ground.

So the move happened and everything went pretty well, all things considered. We got the place in pretty decent shape fairly quickly and now Christy is busy doing all the little decorating touches to make it feel like home again. Already there are things I really like and things I really miss. I miss our automatic ice maker, our garbage disposal, and the fact that our garage is not attached. But I love having a yard, all the extra space, and (most importantly) I love how when we aren't making noise - it's actually quiet! No clomp clomp clomp from the upstairs neighbors' high heels or giggling and/or thumping bass music at 2:00 A.M. from the girls downstairs. I'd actually like to know if there is something chemical that happens in your brain as you get older that just makes you completely intolerant of ambient noise. 5 years ago hearing my neighbors wouldn't (and didn't) bother me at all, but the last 2 years or so it became intolerable. It's really scary that I can already see myself in 10 years going up to Anabelle's room and telling her to "turn down that racket!" You know, I don't think it's the actually growing older that is disturbing; it's the acting older (and in particular, acting more like your parents).

In any case, Anabelle seems to be enjoying the new place. That's important because if baby isn't happy then nobody's happy. I am constantly amazed at the level of energy she has, but then again she sleeps 16 hours a day. If I did that maybe I'd have a lot of energy the other 8 hours too (probably not). She can really cruise now with the crawling, but she's at the point where she really really wants to walk. She can pull herself up on things but she doesn't really like doing that; she just keeps trying to stand up in the middle of the room but still doesn't have the balance for it and if you try and help her she gets mad. On Saturday she'll officially be 10 months old and I'm predicting that she'll take her first steps on her own sometime in the next 4-6 weeks and be toddling around pretty good by her first birthday.

Think that's all I got for now. I'll try to get back to some weightier subjects now that the moving chaos is done and my vacation has come and gone.

Screw you Dippin' Dots!

I saw my first Dippin' Dots stand in a mall in 1994 and was somewhat intrigued by "The Ice Cream of the Future" slogan (although not enough to try it). According to their website, they've been around since 1988. I just saw a Dippin' Dots stand at Ribfest last night and they are still advertising themselves at "The Ice Cream of the Future". You can't advertise the exact same product as being "of the Future" for 22 straight years. That's bullshit.

Don't ever let it be said of me that I'm afraid to tackle the tough issues.