I've Got the Fever

In the past week or so, I've been getting really excited about some things I usually couldn't care less about.

One is television, specifically the HBO show Entourage. I really don't watch anything on T.V. besides baseball and an occasional Scrubs episode, but thanks to a million dollar marketing campaign aimed at me and every other 22-30 year old male, I am absolutely hooked on this show. I don't have HBO, but I do have an internet and a video iPod, so I downloaded the first two seasons and watched all 22 episodes while commuting on the subway. I was addicted and luckily last night began a new season to curb my cravings for L.A. jackasses. My buddy Jerry has HBO so I watched the season premiere at his Brooklyn apartment last night and might start making the weekly trek out there.

My second drug-like addiction has been for World Cup soccer (football). Like most Americans, I know nothing about the sport and I get by fine. But, toss $5 in an office pool and everything changes. I haven't missed a match yet and have already slipped out of the office twice; into a pub across the street with about 100 bankers to catch the game. I'm keeping a bracket and can't wait for the next Costa Rica match so I can sport the only soccer jersey I own. They'll get killed, I'm sure.

So, T.V. dramedys and World-class soccer. Keep 'em coming!

Malibu Dan

I went to Los Angeles over the weekend to see Dan. He lives in Santa Monica, which is beautiful and teaches in Malibu. Life is hard for Dan.

Except for the traffic, smog, and heat, which do exist in L.A., I realized that Southern California is beautiful (I already new Northern Cali was perfect). I was blown away by all of the trees and plants everywhere. We made the best margaritas ever with lemons we picked off a tree in his backyard. I'm ready to be somewhere that doesn't consider concrete nature.

Saturday and Sunday we went to Dodger games and took our shirts off. The California sun is intense and would've roasted us if we didn't move to the shade. Dodger dogs are great and the stadium is the most beautiful stadium in all of sports. On Monday we walked down to Venice beach and back. The entire walk took about four hours. We realized that between all our time spent in Costa Rica, NYC, Chicago and LA, we have probably spent more time walking than anything else. Dan is a good walker.

Hopefully during the summer, I'll be able to go back and spend a little more time in Santa Monica. Dan has the summer off and I'll be unemployed. I can think of few better reasons to sit on the beach and drink homemade margaritas.

Is that a light at the end of my tunnel?

I feel like a Senior in high school. I know that in a few weeks, this painful routine of work will be over with and I will have a full summer to myself followed by a completely new lifestyle.

I'm in the process of getting certified to teach English abroad. My plan is to quit my job in late June/early July. Details are vague after that, but I will most likely spend a week or two in NYC then a few days in Boston. Sometime in the latter half of July I will load all of my stuff into a rental car and drive it to Houston. I hope to spend at least three weeks in Texas and perhaps make it all the way through August. I'll do some road tripping to Dallas, Austin, College Station etc. to see some friends and have some fun. I might even go to L.A. so see Daniel if money permits.

During all of this I'll be searching for a good gig in Hong Kong and hopefully Andrew and I can end up at the same place. Ideal starting date is September 1.

Until then, I'm marking days off my calendar at work. The sun is shining outside, summer is around the corner and I've got a lot to look forward to.

Aggie Sighted in Weehawken

Ridiculous

My Take on Gas - oline

It seems like everyone today is complaining about the high cost of gasoline. Everyone except city-slickers like me who enjoy the freedoms of being sans vehicle.

Over the past 6 years, the cost of a barrel of oil has risen from around $20 in 2000 to the $70 range of today. Gasoline, a derivative of crude oil, has followed suit and is drilling a hole in the pockets of American drivers.

The reason for the rising costs is simple supply and demand, Economics 101. We drive bigger cars and use more gas. As a result, we demand more energy so the price continues to rise. This is a fact that many are quick to ignore. Instead, drivers want to blame the government for reasons I do not understand. The government aims blame at oil companies simply for being profitable (isn't that the goal of a market economy?) and in turn labels the American producer of oil, the giver of life to SUVs, the evil empire of our prospering economy.

I can understand why someone would blame a corporation for high prices, but it is still an incorrect assumption. Oil companies do not determine prices. This is done by energy traders who try to predict which way the price of oil will go. For the most part, energy companies like Exxon buy this and process it and sell for a mark-up to cover their costs.

Its true that oil companies reported record profits this year, but that doesn't they are gouging the consumer. The Economist justified this today in an article, "The understandable ire comes from a basic economic error: consumers observe that the oil that producers were already pumping is not costing them any more, and therefore conclude that they shouldn'’t be making higher profits on it. But high prices are what brings new supply onto the market-supply that wouldn'’t be cost effective to pump if oil cost less than $72 a barrel. This gives oil companies a windfall on the oil that is cheaper to pump, but it is not gouging." Oil companies don't pocket profits either. These monies are used in higher risk investments to produce more oil and gas.

For what its worth, Ben Stein had an article today that suggests, "if we want to blame anyone... maybe we should blame ourselves for the oil pinch." All of this is to say, if Americans want lower gas prices, the consumer needs to lower their consumption and allow supply to catch up with demand.

Bad Job?

Now my company can add a new item to the list of inconveniences we have - no international phone calls. Our two main offices are in London and Singapore.

Previously on the list:
-No Training
-No Business Cards
-No Office Supplies
-10 yr old Computers and software
-No Expense account
-No Lightbulbs above my desk
-Ran out of paper
-No International Calls

Its time.

After agonizing months at this crappy job of mine and endless searching for that position I'm fit for, I realized what I need to do. I'm moving to Hong Kong.

There just isn't a job out there for this guy. What I really want to do is travel, live abroad, learn a language, experience other cultures, give myself a global education. Then I thought about teaching English in Asia. I've narrowed it down to Hong Kong.

Honestly, the idea of teaching barely enters my mind. I really only consider the lifestyle of Hong Kong and the opportunities to see the other side of this big rock I live on. (I should note that Andrew is coming with me, which is awesome.)

The idea and commitment are there, but the details are not. For the moment, I am still at the same crappy job with no foreseeable end. Actually I can see the end in two months with they give me a pink slip. There are a few things I still need to accomplish during my first stint in New York so I'm delaying my move until July-Septemberish. Until then, I still need another job that promotes sanity as opposed to my current position. Its all up in the air, but this is what's on my mind.

Friday Night

Jordan was in town over the weekend. We went to McSorley's. It was fun - as usual.

Klosterman the Historian

I like Chuck Klosterman's summary of the past six years in the U.S.

'In November 2000, the United States held a presidential election, and nobody knew who won, so we just kind of made up an outcome and tried to act like that was normal. Less than a year later, airplanes flew into office buildings, and everybody cried for two months. And then Enron went bankrupt, and the U.S. started acting like a rogue state, and "The Simple Life" premiered, and gasoline became unaffordable, and our Olympic basketball team lost to Puerto Rico, and we reelected the same president we never really elected in the first place. Later, there would be some especially devastating hurricanes and three Oscars for an especially bad movie called "Crash."'

Beva?